Assessment of Attitude and Practices towards Oral Health in a Population of Saudi Arabian Undergraduate Students in the Ha'il Region

摘要

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the oral health attitude and practices among undergraduate students in the Ha'il Region of Saudi Arabia.Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study comprising 251 undergraduate students was carried out using self-administered questionnaire. Responses were collected and descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests and estimation of p-values were performed.Results: Eighty six (86%) of respondents thought it's necessary to maintain oral hygiene. Sixty eight (68%) of participants brushed teeth after every meal. For 64% of respondents, dental pain was the principal reason for visiting a dentist. As a method for oral care, tooth brushing with paste was of preference to 77% of respondents. In terms of frequency of tooth brushing, 52% brushed their teeth twice daily, 30% thrice daily and 13% once a day. The duration of teeth brushing was 1 minute for 47% of the respondents, 2-3minutes for 23% and less than 1 minute for 27%. One hundred forty-one (141) subjects, mostly males (73.3%), had no specific time for brush replacement. And this was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.001).Conclusion: Although participants possess reasonable attitude to their oral health, their attitudes towards professional dental care were not in line with the American dental association (ADA) recommendations. Tooth brushing practices were far behind the international recommendations for brushing twice daily for 2 minutes