Oral hygiene-related knowledge and attitude among nigerian medical and pharmacy students: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: Oral hygiene, which denotes the cleanliness of the mouth, is a part of the general body hygiene and fundamental to optimal oral health. The objective of the study was to examine the oral hygiene-related knowledge and attitude among Nigerian medical and pharmacy students. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 482 randomly selected medical and pharmacy students. The data collection tool was a self-administered questionnaire. Results: The majority of the participants never attended dental clinic (74.9%), reported good/excellent self-reported periodontal status (89.8%), and regard for mouth cleanliness as important (97.3%). The knowledge of mouth odor arising from tooth deposit (97.3%) was highest followed by that on bleeding gum (94.8%) and plaque knowledge (77.2%). Participants with inadequate oral hygiene knowledge reported higher mean desire to improve oral care (20.18 ± 0.10), whereas participants with adequate oral hygiene knowledge reported higher mean sociability (7.43 ± 0.05) and persistence (10.27 ± 0.19). Participants with positive oral hygiene attitude reported higher mean sociability (7.37 ± 0.05) and lower mean persistence (10.26 ± 0.13). Conclusion: The data from this study revealed low prevalence of adequate oral hygiene knowledge, higher positive oral hygiene attitude, good/excellent self-reported periodontal health, and high importance of mouth cleanliness among medical and pharmacy students. Oral hygiene knowledge was also significantly different among the medical and pharmacy students.

Keywords

• attitude
• knowledge
• medical students
• oral hygiene
• pharmacy students