Abstract
Objectives : The oral care during early childhood plays an important role to maintain sound oral health during adulthood. As the number of children's using child care facilities is on the rise recently, the children's oral health awareness and behavior of the educators at nurseries and kindergartens are to be examined. Methods : A self-recording survey was conducted on 194 educators at the nurseries and kindergartens in Chungnam region. Results : The most frequently given snack was milk, 91.8 percent of the facilities had children brush their teeth, 63.4 percent made them apply fluoride and 56.2 percent kept children's toothbrushes in an ultraviolet rays sterilizer. There was a meaningful difference in the awareness of the necessity to educate children about oral health according to the offer of the opportunity to apply fluoride (p<0.05). A meaningful difference was found in the recognition of the necessity to educate children according to their grade (p<0.05) and to train teachers themselves (p<0.05). The most desirable persons in charge of oral health education were dentists in health centers (46.9%) in order. The more experience in teaching they have had (p<0.05), when they're married (50.5%) (p<0.05) and when they're not homeroom teachers (52.6 percent), the more regular checkups they have had (p<0.05). As for the importance of oral health and the results of regular checkups, those who had answered 'very important'(42.4%) showed higher rate of regular checkup (p<0.05) than those who had answered 'important'(23.9%). When teachers have the experience to get trained about oral care (96.3%), the practice frequency of brushing teeth was proved to become higher (p<0.05). Conclusions : The educators for children should recognize the importance of oral health education, educate children to practice oral health care, and the environment and systematic foundation should be established which the educators manage effectively.