Background: The knowledge of good oral hygiene is of paramount importance for the technical knowhow to keep one’s mouth clean and free from periodontal diseases. Thus, one’s attitude towards oral hygiene directly af...Background: The knowledge of good oral hygiene is of paramount importance for the technical knowhow to keep one’s mouth clean and free from periodontal diseases. Thus, one’s attitude towards oral hygiene directly affects the oral health status. Aims: The study aimed at evaluating the knowledge, attitude and oral hygiene practices among medical practitioners in Delta State, Nigeria. The research also aimed at determining the effect of sex on knowledge, attitude and oral hygiene practices. Methodology: This study was an observational cross sectional study. Purposive sampling technique was employed. A total of a hundred and twenty-three health care providers were assessed with a structured questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics and Research Committee in the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 18.0 package. Descriptive statistics was analyzed using simple frequency percentages distribution and association between categorical variables and sex was done using a chi-square test. Significance was accepted at p Result: Findings from the study present 76.0% males and 24.0% females in the studied population. Five categories of health care providers were assessed, 63.0% of respondents were medical officers, 21.0% were consultants, and 10.0% were residents, while 6.0% were house officers. The results showed that 43.9% of the participants brushed their teeth once daily, 54.5% twice daily while 1.6% thrice daily. Respondents were asked the last time they visited a dentist. Out of the 123 participants, 37.4% never visited, 20.3% claimed six months ago, 13.0% visited a year ago, 10.6% two years ago and 19.40% visited more than two years ago. It also shows percentage distribution of variant types of last treatment, 19.5% had extraction, 10.6% had filling, and 33.3% had scaling and polishing while 36.6% had other types of dental treatment. The study revealed that the majority of the respondents (93.5%) had a positive attitude towards oral health. A total of 91.9% of the participants had knowledge of oral hygiene, while 8.1% had no idea of oral hygiene. More than half of the respondent (57.2%) agreed and strongly agreed that oral hygiene knowledge in medical schools was adequate while 35.0% disagreed and strongly disagreed. There was no significant association (p > 0.05) between frequency of daily teeth brushing, last dental visit, variant treatments and sex. Conclusion: Findings from this study showed that the majority of the participants had an adequate knowledge on proper oral hygiene care and they had a positive attitude towards oral health. Being health care providers, the adequate knowledge and positive attitude could have a positive impact on the patients.展开更多
文摘Background: The knowledge of good oral hygiene is of paramount importance for the technical knowhow to keep one’s mouth clean and free from periodontal diseases. Thus, one’s attitude towards oral hygiene directly affects the oral health status. Aims: The study aimed at evaluating the knowledge, attitude and oral hygiene practices among medical practitioners in Delta State, Nigeria. The research also aimed at determining the effect of sex on knowledge, attitude and oral hygiene practices. Methodology: This study was an observational cross sectional study. Purposive sampling technique was employed. A total of a hundred and twenty-three health care providers were assessed with a structured questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics and Research Committee in the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 18.0 package. Descriptive statistics was analyzed using simple frequency percentages distribution and association between categorical variables and sex was done using a chi-square test. Significance was accepted at p Result: Findings from the study present 76.0% males and 24.0% females in the studied population. Five categories of health care providers were assessed, 63.0% of respondents were medical officers, 21.0% were consultants, and 10.0% were residents, while 6.0% were house officers. The results showed that 43.9% of the participants brushed their teeth once daily, 54.5% twice daily while 1.6% thrice daily. Respondents were asked the last time they visited a dentist. Out of the 123 participants, 37.4% never visited, 20.3% claimed six months ago, 13.0% visited a year ago, 10.6% two years ago and 19.40% visited more than two years ago. It also shows percentage distribution of variant types of last treatment, 19.5% had extraction, 10.6% had filling, and 33.3% had scaling and polishing while 36.6% had other types of dental treatment. The study revealed that the majority of the respondents (93.5%) had a positive attitude towards oral health. A total of 91.9% of the participants had knowledge of oral hygiene, while 8.1% had no idea of oral hygiene. More than half of the respondent (57.2%) agreed and strongly agreed that oral hygiene knowledge in medical schools was adequate while 35.0% disagreed and strongly disagreed. There was no significant association (p > 0.05) between frequency of daily teeth brushing, last dental visit, variant treatments and sex. Conclusion: Findings from this study showed that the majority of the participants had an adequate knowledge on proper oral hygiene care and they had a positive attitude towards oral health. Being health care providers, the adequate knowledge and positive attitude could have a positive impact on the patients.
