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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · European Journal of General Dentistry 2017; 6(01): 54-58
DOI: 10.4103/2278-9626.198615
Original Article

Oral health knowledge and practice among 9-12-year-old schoolchildren in the region of Madinah, Saudi Arabia, and its impact on the prevalence of dental caries

Khalid H. Al-Samadani
Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
,
Mohammad Sami Ahmad
1   Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
,
Hala Abdelrahman Bakeer
1   Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
,
May Osman Gamar Elanbya
1   Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
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Abstract

Background: Dental caries is one of the most common dental disorders affecting from all over the globe. Dental caries affects 60%-90% of schoolchildren in most developed countries, and in several developing countries, the prevalence rates are increasing. Objective: To know oral health knowledge and practice among 9-12-year-old schoolchildren and its relation with dental caries. Methods: This is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional studies conducted from September 20, 2015, to January 27, 2016, selecting four male and four female primary schools. Two calibrated examiners examined the students under the normal light with mirror and probe. Results: A total of 276 (92%) were included in this cross-sectional study. There were 118 (43%) were males and 158 (57%) were females with mean age of 10.61 years and having mean Decayed, Missing, and Filled Tooth/decayed, missing, and filled tooth (DMFT/dmft) 1.47/1.78 in male and 1.69/5.34 in female. Three-quarters of the sample (75%) reported to cleaning their teeth at least once per day, and >95% reported using a toothbrush and toothpaste. The mean DMFT/dmft and D/d scores of female were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that of the males. The mean dmft and all the components decreased with age, and there was a significant association (P < 0.01) between oral health knowledge and the caries status. Children with a higher DMFT/dmft score tended to have poor oral health knowledge compared to those with low DMFT/dmft scores. Conclusion: Poor oral health knowledge contributes major role in the prevalence of dental caries in both male and female. In female higher DMFT/dmft was observed in spite of having good oral health knowledge.

Keywords

Decayed - Missing - and Filled Tooth - decayed - missing - and filled tooth - oral health knowledge - toothbrush - toothpaste


Publication History

Article published online:
01 November 2021

© 2017. European Journal of General Dentistry. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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