Introduction: Oral health knowledge is considered to be an essential prerequisite for health-related practices and better oral health. Healthy practices adopted at young age are more sustainable.
Aim: Present cross-sectional exploratory study was planned to assess oral health knowledge and practices of secondary school students in Chandigarh, India.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey was under-taken amongst 1027 secondary level school students, in Chandigarh, India. After obtaining informed consent subjects were administered pretested self administered questionnaire addressing demographics, knowledge, attitude and practice behaviour of participants. Frequency analysis was done using descriptive statistics.
Results: Survey revealed that only 40% subjects brushed twice daily. About 17% reported use of dental floss and 20% used either mouthwash or tongue cleaner as adjuncts. A total of 58% had knowledge that infrequent brushing led to dental caries, staining of teeth, dental plaque and bleeding from gums. Most of them knew sweets (92.7%) and soft drinks (67.8%) affected dental health. Only 12.9% visited dentist regularly after every 6-12 months.
Conclusion: Efficacy of dental health education can be increased only if health programs are tailored to directly impinge on attitudes of targeted population, especially school children in whom healthy practices can be inculcated easily and be sustained for long times.
Keywords: Dental health; Education; Questionnaire; Survey.