Oral hygiene practices among patients seen in the general outpatient clinic of a tertiary health center

Abstract

Introduction: Over the years, incidence of dental diseases has significantly decreased in most developed countries because they have adopted a healthy lifestyle with established effective oral preventive health programs but in most developing countries, the reverse is the case. Materials and Methods: This was a crosssectional study conducted between February and May 2017. One hundred and ten adults seen in the General Outpatient Clinic of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, were consecutively recruited, and a pretested questionnaire was administered by trained assistants. Results: There were 59 (53.6%) males and 51 (46.4%) females with maletofemale ratio of 1.2:1. Toothbrush with paste (46.4%) was the most common material for oral cleaning; and majority changed their toothbrush after 4–11 months. The frequency of oral cleaning was mostly twice per day (43.6%), and the duration was from 2 to 20 min with mean of 5.6 ± 3.4 min. Only 13.1% use dental floss, and 35 (31.8%) of the respondents use mouthwash. Majority of the respondents across the educational qualification subgroups spent 4 min or more in oral cleaning; however, this observation was not statistically significant (Chisquare [χ2] = 4.773, df = 3, P = 0.202); similarly tooth picking for food debris was common among all the subgroups though this was not statistically significant (Fisher's exact test = 5.844, P = 0.089). Wooden toothpick was commonly used across all educational subgroups; whereas use of dental filaments were observed among those with tertiary qualification (χ2 = 27.215, df = 7, P = 0.000). Conclusion: Oral hygiene practices poor in our patients, the use of dental filaments for teeth picking was unacceptably low.

Keywords

• dental floss
• fluoride
• oral hygiene practice
• toothbrush and paste
• toothpicks