Background

Indonesia has reported high prevalence and severity of early childhood caries (ECC). This is at 90% at age 3–5 years with higher mean of decay extraction or filling of teeth (def-t). Preschool children are one of the most vulnerable groups to dental and oral disease because they generally still not have proper behavior with regard to maintaining their oral health. Parental care is an important factor as it serves as the basis of the formation of behaviors that support or do not support childhood oral hygiene. One well-validated theory commonly used to test human attitudes and behaviors is the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Objectives

Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, to describe the behavior of mothers on teaching toothbrushing to preschool children.

Material and methods

We undertook a cross-sectional analytic study with sample size 218 of mothers of kindergarten children in Surabaya. We obtained our data by giving a questionnaire to mothers that consists of 35 semi open ended and closed ended questions.

Results

The variables of Theory of Planned Behavior which showed significant effect on intention to act were attitude and PBC with p-value < 0.005. Subsequently, attitude, subjective norms, and PBC were tested together to measure the influence to intention – which resulted in a R2 of 0.37.

Conclusions

Attitudes and PBC are the most dominant factors in improving the intentions and behavior of mothers towards teaching effective toothbrushing practices to their children.