Oral hygiene habits among patients attending tertiary care dental unit

The aim of the study was to find out the oral hygiene habits of students, professionals and domestic staff at Bahria University Karachi Campus and to compare the association between the oral hygiene practices, oral health status, gender, age, educational status and occupation of the study group. Oral mucosal examination was carried out in 872 walk in patients. Oral hygiene Habits were determined by asking type of tooth cleaning devices used for cleaning teeth, frequency of tooth brushing and timings of toot brushing. Caries were detected by the criteria given in 'WHO Oral Health Survey 1981'. Out of 872 patients in out patient department of Bahria Dental Hospital, there were 551 males [63%] and 321 females [37%] with average age of 26 years. 833 [95.5%] used tooth brush, 799 [91.6%] participants brushed once daily or occasionally. Mean DMFT [Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth] of the study group was 1.36. Those who were not cleaning their teeth at all had DMFT 1.87. DMFT increased with increasing age, with p-value of 0.00 which is statistically significant