Oral Health-Related Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Nursing Students of Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital

Aim: The present study was conducted to investigate the oralhealth knowledge, attitude and practice among nursing studentsof Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital.Materials and methods: A questionnaire study was conductedamong 111 nursing students of Rohilkhand Hospital who hadan easy access to the dental services within the premises ofhospital itself. A self-administered structured questionnaireconsisting of 32 questions on demographic data, oral hygieneknowledge, attitude and practices was distributed. The datacollected was analyzed using statistical package for socialsciences (SPSS) version 11.5.Results and conclusion: A majority of the respondents werepracticing healthy oral hygiene practices that included brushingtwice a day with toothbrush and toothpaste for adequateduration of 2 to 3 minutes. Almost 87% of them were aware ofthe diseased gingival condition and the consequences due toaccumulation of plaque. Almost half of the participants visiteda dentist only on pain. However, a majority of them had givenimportance to their teeth equally as their general health. It wasseen that the knowledge, attitude and practice of nursingstudents about oral health was adequate, but furtherimprovements can be encouraged.