PRACTICES, ATTITUDES AND AWARENESS OF SUBURBAN ADOLESCENCE SCHOOL CHILDREN TOWARDS ORAL HYGIENE: SCHOOL- BASED SURVEY

Received 2019-04-15; Accepted 2021-10-29; Published 2022-11-15

Abstract

Background: Oral hygiene is importance in maintaining a good oral health as it may affect the general health
of the body. Adolescence features a stage of significant caries activity for countless individuals. Thus, the
purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice among adolescence suburban school
children towards oral hygiene.
Methods: A cross-sectional study in which self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 300 students
at selected suburban public schools in Selangor based on stratified sampling. The questionnaire comprised of
socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge about oral hygiene, attitude towards oral hygiene and practice
for prevention of oral disease. Students who had previously resided in urban areas for a minimum period of
1 year in the past 5 years were excluded. Data were analyzed by using descriptive analysis and Chi-squared
test in SPSS version 21.
Results: A total of 252 answered questionnaires were returned. The results of the study indicated low level of
awareness for oral hygiene; 75.4 % showed lack of knowledge on dental plaque, 81.3% did not use floss, only
46.0 % brush their teeth twice per day and 27.8% visited a dentist last 6 months ago. A good attitude towards
oral hygiene is still lacking, nevertheless a majority of the respondents have slight negative view toward dental
visit which is mostly influenced by their anxiety.
Conclusion: This study revealed deficient of oral hygiene awareness among adolescence suburban school
children in certain aspects of dental hygiene. It therefore highlights that urbanization does not always correlate
with high level of oral hygiene awareness.