Knowledge of Teething and Prevalence of Teething Myths in Mothers of Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the knowledge about teething, to evaluate the experiences of the mothers' during the teething of their youngest child and practices undertaken by them to relieve teething symptoms.

STUDY

DESIGN

A stratified cluster sampling technique was used to collect representative sample of school children of Jazan province (Saudi Arabia), who were provided with a questionnaire kit to be filled by their mothers.

RESULTS

A total of 159 mothers participated in this study. More than four-fifths and three-fourths of the study population knew that the first primary teeth erupt at 6-7 months of age and lower central incisors are the first teeth to erupt respectively. The most prevalent signs and symptoms associated with teething as reported by the mothers were desire to bite (97.5%), fever (93%), diarrhoea (91.1%), increased salivation (79.9%), loss of appetite (77.4%) and gum irritation (71.7%). A little more than half (55.7%) of the mothers' gave their child a chilled object to bite and 42.1% bottle fed their baby at night to relieve teething pain.

CONCLUSIONS

Many mothers had poor knowledge and misbeliefs about teething. There is a need to educate the mothers of Jazan province on the facts related to teething, specifically those related to teething pain relieving practices.