DEEP CARIOUS LESIONS: RESPONDENT PERCEPTION, KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF ITS MANAGEMENT

Background: The prevalence of dental caries showed a notable increase recently particularly among developing countries. It is crucial to measure the respondent perception towards its management to understand it further.

Aim of work: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards dental caries among respondents residing in the north region of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted via an online survey distributed to respondents from the North Province of Saudi Arabia. Convenient sampling was employed, and data was mostly display as N (%). Statistics was displayed using Pearson chi square and Fisher exact test.

Results: Out of 195 respondents, 87% were females and 73% had a bachelor’s degree. Internet was the source of dental health knowledge for 45% of participants. Halitosis was the primary reason behind brushing teeth 45%, and tooth ache was the chief reason for visiting a dentist 55%. Furthermore, 79% knew that fluoride protects against decay and 35% stated that it can reverse the decay. Only 44% of participants knew that plaque leads to dental caries. Regarding attitude, only 12% brushed their teeth thrice, 93% used tooth brush to clean teeth, 76% brushed their teeth for <3 minutes, 48% cleaned their teeth after meals, and only 27% participant didn’t eat sugary food daily.

Conclusion: The respondent does not have satisfactory awareness toward maintaining their oral health, despite some aspects of dental care and dental health are well recognized. Moreover, only a minority of them were following proper dental care instructions to prevent dental caries.

Keywords: Attitudes, dental caries, knowledge, perception, Saudi Arabia.