Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Mothers towards Canine Tooth Bud Removal and Associated Factors among Mothers Visiting Dental Clinic of Gondar University Hospital, Ethiopia

Background: Canine tooth bud removal is a process of gouging out an infant’s healthy baby canine tooth buds embedded underneath the gums, using unsterile tools without anesthesia. This practice is against children’s right with many serious consequences in physical, psychological, mental and aesthetical makeup of the children. Therefore, studying the knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers towards to canine tooth bud removal will help to make recommendations for the concerned body for the intervention of this harmful traditional practice. Methods: An Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from June-November 2015 among mothers visiting the dental clinic of Gondar university Hospital. Four dental surgeons were involved in data collection process using structured questionnaire and doing a physical examination on their under 10 years old child. For testing of significance, categorical data was compared using a chi-squared test and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done to assess the association of different independent variables with the dependent variable. Results: A total of 554 mothers within the age range of 19-54 years old with a mean age of 27.5 ± 4.65 (SD) were involved in the study. The prevalence of canine tooth bud removal was 81.9% in the study. The majority of the study participants have a misconception on the cause of diarrhea during teething and one-third of the participants have the intention to continue the practice in the future. The removal of canine tooth bud was done mainly by traditional healers using razor blade during 5-8 months of their life. Maternal age (AOR=0.378, 95%CI: 0.226-0.633) and educational level have (AOR=3.811, 95%CI: 2.323-6.246) strong association with the attitude of mothers towards to the practice of canine tooth bud removal. Conclusion and recommendation: The prevalence of canine tooth bud removal is high. These findings show an urgent need to have community-based campaign, to build their knowledge on the complications and effect of canine tooth bud removal on the quality of life in children. A culturally sensitive training should be given to change the social belief of the practice