Attitude and Behavior of Oral Hygiene among Taif University Students - A questionnaire study

The attitude, behavior and the oral hygiene of health care providers reflect their understanding of the importance of preventive dental procedures and improving the oral health of their patients.  These findings differ among the students pursuing various programs and such studies are very important in the present global trend of standardization of dental education and require inclusion of oral health promotion in dental practice. Students of health care are the future professionals who are expected to be teacher of hygiene as well as role models of self-care regimens for their patients. There is very little information or research about the oral hygiene attitude and behavior or practices that influence oral health among university students of various programs from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Hence, this study was aimed to add to the limited literature documenting the oral hygiene practices and attitudes among students pursuing programs in various streams of medical and allied sciences at Taif University, KSA. A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire study was carried out among 500 students of streams of Medical, Dental, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy and Nursing colleges at Taif University, KSA, with the English version of the preformed set of modified questionnaire consisting of 27 questions as per Hiroshima University- Dental Behavioral Inventory (HU-DBI). A quantitative estimate of oral health attitude and behavior is provided by the total of the appropriate responses. The data was computerized and analyzed. Differences in responses were assessed using chi-square. The level of significance was set at P< 0.05. The responses were recorded and analysed. The difference in responses to all the questions was statistically significant (P<0.05). In comparison of the streams the medical students had the highest mean score. The differences in the mean scores were statistically significant (Kruskallwallis test). The difference in the mean scores of clinical and preclinical students was not statistically significant (Man Whitney U test). In the present study, the overall, significant differences of the mean HU-DBI scores of students of dental, medical, pharmacy and other allied sciences were observed. Higher scores indicate better oral health attitude and behavior. The data might help and may be used to improve practice of students' oral hygiene and serve as a positive model for the patients, their family and friends.