A self-report on oral hygiene awareness among allied health students of Chennai – A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Oral cavity is the mirror of general health. Good oral hygiene plays important role in the prevention of oral diseases. Hence, constant monitoring and evaluation of oral hygiene become promising leads for a general health checkup. To evaluate the awareness for oral hygiene among Paramedical students of the south Indian population. The study is a cross-sectional study involving 1003 students belonging to Allied health sciences studying in Dr. MGR Educational & Research Institute, Chennai, having mean Age of 18 -20 years. The study was conducted for a period of one month (14 August 2021- 10 September 2021). The subjects were asked to fill out a self-explanatory Questionnaire about their daily oral hygiene activities. The observations are tabulated and analyzed using SPSS software. Mean, frequency distribution and chi-square test were used as test of significance. The college students who filled the self-report were aged 18-19 years (88.7%) of which female students gave maximum responses (65.70%) in filling the questionnaires. The tested population brushed twice per day was on higher side (56%) with females having more brushing frequency (39.48%) as compared to males (16.3%). The respondents who noticed bad breadth and bleeding gums was 26.22% and 32.20% respectively. The values of bad breadth have p values with high significance (0.0005%) in comparison to gender. However, Gender comparison with dental floss usage (p = 0.1695) and dental visit observation (P= 0.4293) had no significant statistical P values. Among the Allied Health students, the general knowledge of oral health practices was moderate and dental visits were their choice only during emergency procedures. Inadequate knowledge of routine dental procedures and signs of oral health were seen. Female students have better knowledge upon oral health, oral hygiene practices and maintenance as compared to males.