Parents' Ability to Distinguish Between Primary and Permanent Teeth

Purpose: To investigate the extent to which parents can distinguish between their children's primary and permanent teeth in mixed dentition.
Methods: One hundred and fifty parents (107 mothers, 43 fathers) and their children (n=150; mean age=7.6±1.13 years old) were included in this study. All the children were examined, and their decayed, missing, and filled primary and permanent values and decayed, missing, and filled primary surface and permanent surface values were recorded. Parents were asked whether each of their children's 12 teeth on the maxillary and mandibular right side was a primary or permanent tooth. Each of their answers was recorded as zero (incorrect answer) or one point (correct answer), and the total score was calculated.
Results: One-third (33 percent) of the parents stated that the permanent first molar (PFM) was a permanent tooth, 59.3 percent said it was a primary tooth, and 7.3 percent said they had no idea. The median value of the total correct answer for the 12 teeth was 10. There were no statistically significant differences among the parents' total correct scores according to the sociodemographic status (P >0.05).
Conclusion: Parents do not have sufficient knowledge about their children's teeth, especially about PMFs. Parents' education on the subject is important for children's dental health.