Dental Caries and Brushing Techniques Attitude in School Students: An Original Research.

Introduction: Oral health plays an important role in the overall wellness of an individual. Hence in our study, we aim to evaluate the awareness and knowledge about dental caries and pattern of brushing among secondary school students. Materials and
Methods: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey among 200 secondary school students to estimate their awareness and knowledge about dental caries and brushing pattern. Only those students with at least one filled, missing, or decayed tooth were considered. The data was presented as percentages.
Results: We observed that knowledge regarding dental caries among students was 72.5%. 75.5% students had good knowledge of brushing teeth; nonetheless 30% brushed their teeth twice. Only 21.5% students visited the dental clinic.
Conclusion: Though good knowledge about dental caries and brushing was appreciated among the students, very few students practiced good oral hygiene habits. Promotion of oral hygiene habits should be motivated at the school level. Copyright:

INTRODUCTION

Dental caries is a common dental disease in the world. Many preventive methods have been proposed to prevent caries among the public. Dental caries is prevalent among both developed and developing countries alike.[123] Oral hygiene habits have to be implemented at the early stages for deterrence of dental caries in children. Good oral hygiene will result in greater self-esteem and confidence of the individual. Tooth brushing is advised twice daily for the optimal results.[456] Hence in our study we aim to evaluate the awareness and knowledge of dental caries and pattern of brushing among secondary school students.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We conducted a questionnaire-based survey among 200 secondary school students to appraise awareness and knowledge about dental caries and the brushing pattern. The study was conducted at secondary schools after taking consent from the guardian of the student. We included students of ages 13–16 years. Ten questions were formulated, five each to appraise the awareness and knowledge about caries and the pattern of brushing. We included the students with at least one filled, missing, or decayed tooth. Data was recorded and presented as percentage.

RESULTS

We observed that among the 200 students, 100% had at least one filled, missing, or decayed tooth. We observed that knowledge about dental caries among students was 72.5%. 80% answered that the dental caries is avertable; 95% students brushed at least once daily and; 78.5% students had good knowledge of brushing teeth. Nonetheless, 30% brushed their teeth twice and 25.5% knew fluoride toothpaste can protect your teeth from decay. We observed that less than half of the students knew the techniques of brushing (42.5%), and that 74.5% of the students thought that regular visits to the dentist were necessary, but only 21.5% visited the dental clinic [Table 1].

Table 1

Survey questionnaire and the responses

Query	Yes	No
Do you have any of these? Filling/lost/decayed tooth	100%	-
Are you familiar with the reason of the decay of tooth?	72.5%	27.5%
Can the decay of tooth be prevented?	80%	20%
Are you familiar that regular visits to the dentist are necessary?	74.5%	25.5%
Did you ever visit the dentist?	21.5%	78.5%
Do you brush your teeth more than once a day?	30%	75%
Do you use toothbrush and paste to clean the teeth?	97.5%	2.5%
Are you familiar that brushing twice daily can prevent tooth decay?	75.5%	24.5%
Fluoride in the toothpaste may defend against the decay, do you know it?	25.5%	74.5%
Do you know the correct tooth brushing technique?	42.5	57.5

DISCUSSION

School children are at an increased risk of dental caries. Caries and loss of the tooth may lead to inability to chew food, speech inabilities, and loss of confidence.[5678] In our study, knowledge about dental caries among students was 72.5%, presenting that teenagers were aware of the causes of dental caries, similar to findings by Mhaske et al., and Khan et al.[23] In our study, 80% answered that dental caries is avertable which is in unison with a study by Khan et al.[3] Considering the brushing frequency, 95% of students brushed at least once daily, and 78.5% had good knowledge of brushing teeth. Nonetheless, only 30% brushed their teeth twice, similar to other studies,[24] where 38.5% brushed twice. This difference might be because their study was done on city students. The students of our study were from poor socioeconomic conditions that may have impacted the study. In our study, 35.5% knew fluoride toothpaste could defend your teeth from decay. This observation is in agreement with the study by Al-Darwish et al.,[8] where 23.9% students knew that fluoride prevented caries. We observed that less than half of the students knew the techniques of brushing (42.5%).

We observed that 74.5% of the students thought that regular visits to the dentist were necessary, but then only 21.5% of students visited the dental clinic. This observation reiterates that the stigma around dental visits.[45]

CONCLUSION

Though good knowledge about dental caries and brushing was appreciated among students, very few practiced good oral hygiene habits. Since school-going children are at high risk, the promotion of oral hygiene habits should be advocated at the school level.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.