ABSTRACT
Background: Oral health is fundamental to general health and well-being. To organize community oriented oral health promotion programs, systematic analysis of oral health is mandatory which includes information on oral health knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP). The study was done with the aim to assess the KAP on oral hygiene among primary school children in an urban area of Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu.Methods: A sample of 250 primary school children in the age group of 8-10 at Anakaputhur, an urban field practice area of Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Kancheepuram district was chosen by multi-stage sampling technique.Data on oral hygiene was collected by using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire by personal interview method. The data obtained was subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS version 22.Results: Among the study participants, 65.6% of children had good knowledge on oral hygiene with only 33.6% of children with positive attitude and 10.8% of children had good practice of oral hygiene. Around 96 % of the children knew that they should brush their teeth twice daily, 92% of the children knew that having sweets/fizzy drinks causes oral health problems and 96% of the children think that maintaining healthy teeth is an individual responsibility.Conclusions: Health education services at school regarding oral hygiene practices targeting the children, teachers and the parents have to be conducted at regular intervals to empower them on the benefits of the same.