Oral health knowledge of Spanish breastfeeding mothers

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of infant oral health in mothers who have breastfeeding for a period longer than 6 months. Methods: A descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study was carried out in 1126 mothers who had breastfed for more than 6 months, using a validated questionnaire. Results: 57% of the mothers surveyed had a high or very high level of knowledge about oral health during pregnancy and breastfeeding; a statistically significant association (p < 0.05) was found between this and the variables of mother's age, duration of breastfeeding, level of education and previous information received about oral health. Conclusions: The age of the mothers is positively related to the level of oral health knowledge, the elder the mothers the higher the knowledge. Mothers with a longer duration of breastfeeding beyond 24 months have a higher degree of oral health knowledge compared to the rest of the respondents, while their level of educations was also positively related to their degree of knowledge. There is a direct relationship between mothers having received previous information on oral hygiene and their surveyed degree of knowledge.