KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF ORAL HYGIENE IN PATIENTS COMING TO PULMONARY MEDICINE OPD AND IPD

Abstract

Background: Oral health-related conditions among Indian population have been a big issue in every Indian state for the past 10 years. Even basic oral health education has become unachievable to major Indian population.To  assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of oral hygiene in patients attending Respiratory Medicine IPD and OPD with the help of preformed questionnaire and educating patients of good oral hygiene practices.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at Victoria Hospital, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bangalore, a tertiary care hospital  for a period of 2 months from October 2023 to November 2023. Data collection was carried out using a validated questionnaire.

Results: About 38.5% had poor knowledge and 61.5% had good oral hygiene knowledge. Overall, 26.45% had a negative attitude, 73.5% had a positive attitude and  63.7% had adequate behavior  towards oral health .There is  high statistically significant correlation between knowledge and attitude (p value:0.0003) and between attitude and practice (p value:0.0005) and significant correlation between knowledge and practice(0..044).

Conclusions: Although individuals with a good level of knowledge towards oral health had inadequate attitude and practice towards oral health, which is basically due to least importance they give towards their oral health

Keywords: Oral hygiene, knowledge, behavior, practice