ASSESSMENT OF THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF ORAL HEALTH AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENT IN OSISIOMA L.G.A, ABA ABIA STATE.
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background
Oral health has been one of the most overlooked aspect of personal hygeine both by young and old. Most people seem to remember their oral health in times of severe toothache and even so, only when it starts disrupting their normal routine. It is common practice to only visit the dentist in times of pain and never bothering to do a checkup except when the pain returns.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of oral health among secondary school students in Aba.
Materials and Methods:
This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 638 secondary school students from 6 secondary schools(3 private schools and 3 public schools) across 3 local government areas in Aba, Abia state. They include Amazing Grace secondary school, Abayi boys and girls secondary school, Soundbase secondary school, Boys technical college/girls technical college, Ninlan secondary school, Osusu Amaukwa secondary school. Data collected were analysed using statistical package for social sciences(SPSS).
Results
From our study, 493(77.2%) admitted they that they had knowledge of oral health, about 45% heard of it in school, 28% heard it over the radio/television, 11.2% heard about it in health facilities and 5.7% heard about oral health at home. From our study, the oral health practices amongst the students differed widely as about 70.8% of them brushed their teeth twice daily while 10.2% brushed once daily, 19% brushed more than twice daily. Majority of the students changed their toothbrush once every 3 months. Attitude showed that 78.2% of the students think visiting the dentist is necessary,while 13.8% do not. About 53.4% have never visited a dentist, and about 46.6% has visited the dentist at some point. When asked, those who have never visited, 47% of them said it was because of fear of needles and drilling, 41% was due to fear of injection.
There was a statistically significant relationship between the school type(0.000), age(0.009) and class(0.000) to the knowledge of oral health.
Conclusion
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