Title

Parents' knowledge of among oral healthcare among in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Authors

Albaraa Rashed Alkhaldi¹,*, Bader Mutlaq Alsuhaybi², Hani Tamim¹, Noara Alhusseini¹, Basel Rawaf Alanazi³, Faris Alhashim³, Lama Naif Aljohani⁴ & Shouq Naif Aljohani⁴

Affiliation

¹Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public health, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; ²Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Taif Health Cluster, Saudi Arabia; ³Department of Dentistry, Dar Al Uloom University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; ⁴Department of Dentistry, Riyadh Elm University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; *Corresponding author

Email

Albaraa Rashed Alkhaldi - E-mail: albaraa.alkhaldi@hotmail.com
Bader Mutlaq Alsuhaybi - E-mail: badrm41@gmail.com
Hani Tamim - E-mail: htamim@alfaisal.edu
Noara Alhusseini - E-mail: alhusseini.n@gmail.com
Basel Rawaf Alanazi - E-mail: baselalanzi638@gmail.com
Faris Alhashim - E-mail: 12114384@du.edu.sa
Lama Naif Aljohani - E-mail: dr.lama.n.aljohani@gmail.com
Shouq Naif Aljohani - E-mail: shouqju@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received September 1, 2026; Revised September 30, 2026; Accepted September 30, 2026, Published September 30, 2026

Abstract

Limited oral-health knowledge among parents may hinder effective prevention of early childhood caries in young children. Therefore, it is of interest to assess the oral-health knowledge among parents in Saudi Arabia and associated factors. An online questionnaire was completed by 2,331 parents of children aged eight months to six years. Knowledge and opinions were assessed across 14 items using independent t-test, ANOVA, Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test. Education and income significantly influenced parental knowledge (p < 0.001), with 40% holding a bachelor’s degree and 47% earning below 5,000 SAR. Higher education and income were associated with better oral-health knowledge, highlighting their importance in preventing early childhood caries.

Keywords

Oral health, oral hygiene, dental caries, parents’ knowledge, childhood

Citation

Alkhaldi et al. Bioinformation 22(9): 5814-5821 (2026)

Edited by

Ruby Singh

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.