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. 2014 Jan;8(1):63-67.
doi: 10.4103/1305-7456.126244.

Oral health: How much do you know? - A study on knowledge, attitude and practices of patients visiting a North Indian dental school

Agiapal Singh  1 , Ramandeep Singh Gambhir  1 , Simarpreet Singh  1 , Vinod Kapoor  2 , Jagjit Singh  3
Affiliations

Oral health: How much do you know? - A study on knowledge, attitude and practices of patients visiting a North Indian dental school

Agiapal Singh et al. Eur J Dent. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: This study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude and behavior among patients visiting the out-patient department (OPD) of Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital, Rajpura.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 642 subjects who visited the OPD of Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital. A self-constructed questionnaire was given to each of the participant. Responses from the subjects were calculated in terms of numbers and percentages.

Result: Three hundred six (48%) of the subjects had never visited a dentist before. 304 (47%) of the subjects still prefer other cleaning aids over toothbrush. 207 (32%) subjects were of the view that dental health has no effect on general health, whereas 219 (34%) subjects were of the opinion that tooth loss is a natural sequel of the aging process.

Conclusion: There is a dearth of knowledge and careless attitude among people in regard to dental health. People need to be motivated and their concepts regarding the importance of dental health should be made clear through various campaigns and personal counseling.

Keywords: Dental school; knowledge; oral health; patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of study population according to age
Figure 2
Figure 2
Education level of the subjects under study
Figure 3
Figure 3
Knowledge regarding deciduous teeth, visiting dentist and source of oral health knowledge
Figure 4
Figure 4
Various cleansing aids used by the study subjects
Figure 5
Figure 5
Time devoted toward tooth brushing among the study subjects
Figure 6
Figure 6
View of the subjects toward dental health and seeking dental treatment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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