Oral Health Related Knowledge, Attitude and Practices and Their Associated Factors Among 3rd Year Dental Students

Abstract Objective: To assess oral health-related knowledge, attitude and practices and their associated factors among 3rd year BDS students in public sector dental colleges of Karachi. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess oral health-related knowledge, attitude and practices among 3rd year BDS students from November 2018 to April 2019. 3rd year BDS students of either gender in public sector dental colleges of Karachi were included in the study whereas those refusing to give verbal informed consent were excluded from the study. After checking eligibility, a total of 372 3rd year BDS students from five public sector dental colleges of Karachi were included in the study by using a convenience sampling technique. Data were collected by the principal investigator using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Data were entered on Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 19. After checking normality, the inferential analysis was carried out using the Mann Whitney U test whereas the significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The study results showed that the knowledge and attitude regarding oral health of dental students were overall satisfactory, however their practices were not found to be satisfactory. Moreover, it was found that the mean rank of knowledge score was significantly different across various categories of age 'p=0.001' whereas the mean rank of practice score was significantly different across various categories of gender 'p=0.005'. Conclusion: It was concluded that knowledge score was significantly different across categories of age while practice score was significantly different across categories of the gender of the students. Serious efforts are recommended to be taken by all stakeholders in order to motivate dental students so that they can translate their adequate knowledge and positive attitude regarding oral health into appropriate practices.