Introduction: Also known as Infant oral mutilation (IOM), false teeth removal is a traditional method of extracting an infant‟s un-erupted teeth as a cure for medical symptoms in infants that include high fevers, diarrhoea and vomiting. It is practiced in several Sub-Saharan African countries, including Uganda. Objectives: The study particularly sought to determine the prevalence and factors associated with false teeth removal( Infant Oral Mutilation) among children under five years in Bungatira Sub county, Gulu District. Method: This cross sectional study was conducted in Bungatira Sub-county in Gulu district, involving 150 participants with children less than five years that voluntarily accepted and signed a consent form. The respondents were selected using simple random sampling from accessible population; and data analyzed using descriptive statistics and bi-variate method as well as SPSS and Microsoft Excel presented in figures and tables. Result: The prevalence of infant oral mutilation was high at 78%, and the socio-demographic factors such as the age and sex of the child, and care-takers‟ socio-demographic factors like gender and level of education had no significant association with the prevalence of false teeth removal among the children below five years. However, other socio-demographic factors of the care-takers such as age, marital status, employment status/occupation, religion and relationship to the child had a significant influence on the prevalence of false teeth removal of the children. It was observed that false teeth removal was higher among the care-takers with a lower level of education, lower socio-economic/employment status and those with a biological parent relationship to the child than those with a higher level of education, higher socio-economic/employment status and those who were guardians and not biological parents to the children. In regards to knowledge factors, the majority of people had ever heard about false teeth, and their main source of information was their parents, with ancestral/ancestral roots as the main reason for infant oral mutilation. Conclusion/recommendations: The high prevalence of infant oral mutilation has been greatly influenced by the gap in the caregivers‟ knowledge factors which included their awareness, reasons for infant oral mutilation and major sources of information about this traditional practice. Therefore, this study recommends that there is need to revive community sensitization. However, these programmes of community health workers will need to include appropriate cultural educational materials targeting parents and local healers/traditional birth attendants since these play a key role in fuelling the removal of children‟s false teeth. Keywords: Infant Oral Mutilation; Children under five; Caretakers; Uganda

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