Knowledge and Practice on Oral Hygiene among Secondary Level Students in Khumjung Rural Municipality, Solukhumbu

Abstract

Introduction: Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping the mouth and teeth clean to prevent dental problems, most commonly, dental cavities, gingivitis, periodontal (gum) diseases and bad breath. Knowledge and practice on oral hygiene are important components of overall human health, and assessing them can help identify risk factors and develop effective behavior change techniques. The main objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and practice regarding oral hygiene among students. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 115 students of Khumjung secondary high school, Solukhumbu. Self-administration of semi-structured questionnaire was done for data collection. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 20 by using simple statistical methods. Results were presented through frequency and percentage.

Results: The result showed that 50.4 % of the students had adequate knowledge on oral hygiene and 73% had a good oral hygiene practice. Majority of the respondents brushed twice a day (73%) and 40.9% of the respondents changed their brush in every 3 month.
Conclusions: Based on the study findings, the respondent had less knowledge on oral hygiene but had good practice due to provision of free dental camps and distribution of oral hygiene kits to the students from various foreign aids.