Awareness and practices of oral health among patients seen at khyber college of dentistry hospital

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to assess the awareness and practices of oral hygiene maintenance among both genders of the groups who were seen in the hospital ofKhyber College of Dentistry. Three hundred and fifty subjects were randomly selected and interviewed on a semi-structured questionnaire for age, gender, education, frequency of tooth brushing, use of dentifrices and dental floss. SPSS version 17.0 was used to analyze the data. Out of the total 350 subjects, 160 [45.7%] were male and 190 [54.3%] were female, with mean age of43.9 +/- 17.2 The age range was 12-80 years. 45.14% brushed their teeth twice, 35.71% reported once and 8.57% thrice daily. Awareness about the use of dental floss was 18%, while 82% did not use. Regarding the use of dentifrices, 90% were using tooth paste followed by 7.4% tooth powder. Male dominated females in frequent dental check up. In conclusion females were more aware and in practice of maintenance of oral hygiene compared to males