Oral health knowledge and behavior of rural left-behind children in Henan province

Objective To investigate and analyze the oral health knowledge and behavior of rural left-behind children in Henan province,and to provide scientific evidence for oral health care.Methods Totally 2 880 children aged 12 years old,including 1 440 stranded children in the rural areas of Henan province and another 1 440 children as control were selected,using multistage stratified cluster random sampling.The questionnaire was designed according to the Guideline for the Third National Oral Health Survey.Results About 49.49% of rural left-behind children knew that bleeding is not normal while brushing,29.44% understood that bacteria was the cause of dental caries.Only 13.61% of rural left-behind children brushed their teeth twice everyday,4.31% of them rinse their mouth after meal,24.44% used fluoride tooth paste;Only 0.14% of rural left-behind children receiving a medical examination for precautions;these were significantly different from the control ones(P0.05).Conclusion Among left-behind children in rural areas of Henan Province,the oral health knowledge is poor,the oral health behavior and utilization of dental service are not optimistic.Attention should be paid to left-behind children' s oral heath education with the utilization of school for the oral health care in rural areas of Henan Province.