Mothers’ perspectives on children’s nutrition and oral health: a qualitative study with descriptive anthropometric characteristics

This qualitative study explored mothers’ knowledge, attitudes, and experiences concerning their children’s nutrition and oral health. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 mothers who attended the Family Dentistry Department in Karabük. A semi-structured interview guide addressed nutrition and oral and dental health. Maternal and child anthropometric measurements and demographic characteristics were collected to describe the study sample and were not treated as a separate quantitative component. The children’s mean body weight was 25.4 ± 2.45 kg and their mean height was 129.5 ± 3.00 cm; 56.5% were within the normal BMI-for-age range. The mothers’ mean body weight was 67.5 ± 6.50 kg and their mean height was 161.6 ± 5.8 cm; 56.5% had a BMI within the normal range and 30.4% were overweight. Twenty-two of the 23 children (95.7%) had their own toothbrush, and 73.9% brushed their teeth several times a day. Three themes were identified: changes across generations; maternal knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and access to products and services and related barriers. Mothers described knowledge of healthy nutrition and oral health practices but also reported difficulty applying this knowledge in daily life. In this single-centre sample, mothers described a gap between their knowledge of healthy nutrition and oral health practices and their ability to apply that knowledge. Reported barriers included the availability and marketing of unhealthy foods, economic constraints, and difficulties accessing dental services. These findings may inform future research and locally tailored family-support initiatives; they should not be generalized beyond the study context.