As need assessment is the first step for
oral health promotion, the level of
knowledge and
attitude toward oral and dental
health among Zahedan's junior
school students was evaluated in this
research. In this cross - sectional descriptive
research, 800
students among junior
school [431
boys and 369
girls] were chosen through
cluster sampling method. Data was gathered through a
self report questionnaire including
gender,
level of education,
school type,
parent occupation and level of their
education,
knowledge and
attitude among
students. The data were analyzed by SPSS [ver. 10] and chi - square statistics. Sixty percent of
students had moderate level of
knowledge and 29.6% had desired
knowledge. 17.3% held
positive attitude and 45% held a moderate
attitude toward oral and dental
health. Significant relationship was found between
oral health knowledge and
attitudes of
parents with their
educational level and
occupation [P<0.001]. There was also a significant relationship between
student's
educational level,
school type, and
gender with
oral health knowledge [P<0.001]. The
girls and
students of private
schools and last year of junior
high school had a better level of
knowledge. 56.5% of
students brushed at least twice daily and 18.8% used
dental floss. 43% of
students had not dental visit for the past 12 months. The most important source of oral and dental
health information of 75% of
students were
dentists and
parents, and there was a direct relationship between
health habits [at least brushing twice a day and using
dental floss] and visiting the
dentist in the last year with the level of
knowledge and
attitudes. The level of
knowledge of Zahedan's junior
high school students about
oral health was not enough which may be due to poor teacher's
role in
education of oral and dental
health