Mothers' knowledge about signs, symptoms, and management of teething and its relation to their educational level in Egypt: A Cross-sectional Study

Aim: Many physical disturbances have been related to teething. Inappropriate knowledge of mothers and their misconceptions about teething may intervene with the prompt diagnosis and management of severe illnesses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of mothers about teething, to determine how they used to manage its problems, and to investigate the association between the education status of mothers and their management of teething problems. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed using a self-administered questionnaire conducted on mothers of children aged 1-3 years, recruited from the outpatient clinic. The questionnaire consisted of four sections. Results: The needed sample size was derived to be 120 mothers. All mothers revealed that their children had at least one of the symptoms that were presented in the questionnaire. Response to teething was wrongly accompanied with fever (76%), diarrhea (80%), and sleep disturbances (86%). The mothers in the age-group 20-24 years showed significantly higher level of knowledge than those in other age-groups. Regarding mother's education, university and diploma groups had significantly higher level of knowledge than others. Conclusion: Among 120 mothers, 50.8% and 35.8% had poor and moderate level of knowledge about teething, respectively. Furthermore, only 13.3% had good level of knowledge regarding teething.