Outlook On Oral Health: A Questionnaire Survey Of General Population

Mahendra  Singh Gehlot; Amit  Agarwal; Sakshi  Sharma; Kalpana  Chaudhry; Diwakar  Sharma

doi:10.5455/njcm.20210718120010

Authors

Mahendra Singh Gehlot Dept. of Community & Family Medicine, AIIMS Rishikesh
Amit Agarwal Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Seema Dental College & Hospital, Rishikesh
Sakshi Sharma General Dentist, Dehradun
Kalpana Chaudhry Dept. of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, UDMRI, Dehradun
Diwakar Sharma General Dentist, Smile Dental Clinic, Hisar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5455/njcm.20210718120010

Keywords:

oral health, survey, epidemiology, dental hygiene, community health, dentistry

Abstract

Introduction: Poor oral health and untreated oral conditions are not readily identifiable by general population and morbid oral status is widely accepted as a norm, creating a significant impact on quality of life. Oral diseases are a major public health concern due to their high prevalence and neglect. The outlook of people towards oral health and disease, therefore, has an important influence on dental health.

Methods: A structured questionnaire was posed to general Indian population. 1008 completed responses were collected and analyzed for association amongst discreet variables using Pearson’s Chi-square test and a P-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The relationship between dental awareness and demographic variables like gender, socioeconomic background, and education are discussed. Awareness amongst rural and less educated populations is low. The children face dental neglect, people are unaware of the need for regular dental visits and systemic correlation of poor oral hygiene. Females are more aware of hygiene practices than male population.

Conclusion: The present study found that there is an immediate need to create awareness amongst general population about the necessity to follow proper oral healthcare measures, especially amongst rural and less educated groups, parents of young children, pregnant females, and the elderly.

References

Tavares M, Lindefjeld Calabi KA, San ML. Systemic diseases and oral health. Dent Clin N Am. 2014;58(4):797–814.

Glick M, Williams DM, Kleinman DV, Vujicic M, Watt RG, Weyant RJ. A new definition for oral health developed by the FDI world dental federation opens the door to a universal definition of oral health. J Public Health Dent. 2017; 77(1):3–5

Singh P, Bey A, Gupta ND. Dental health attitude in Indian so-ciety. J Int Soc Prev Community Dent. 2013; 3(2):81-84. doi:10.4103/2231-0762.122444

Chandu VC, Pachava S, Viswanath V, Khanna A, Kaur R. Strate-gies for Improving Accessibility to Oral Health Care Services in Rural India: An InsightInt J Oral Health Med Res 2017; 4(2):44-46.

Oberoi SS, Mohanty V, Mahajan A, Oberoi A. Evaluating awareness regarding oral hygiene practices and exploring gender differences among patients attending for oral prophy-laxis. J Indian Soc Periodontol. 2014; 18:369–74

Goryawala SN, Chavda P, Udhani S, Pathak NV, Pathak S, Ojha R. A survey on oral hygiene methods practiced by patients attending Dentistry Department at a Tertiary Care Hospital from Central Gujarat. J Int Soc Prev Community Dent. 2016; 6(2):115-119. doi:10.4103/2231-0762.178750

Kapoor D, Gill S, Singh A, Kaur I, Kapoor P. Oral hygiene awareness and practice amongst patients visiting the depart-ment of periodontology at a dental college and hospital in North India. Indian J Dent. 2014; 5:64–8. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Singh SV, Akbar Z, Tripathi A, Chandra S, Tripathi A. Dental myths, oral hygiene methods and nicotine habits in an ageing rural population: An Indian study. Indian J Dent Res. 2013; 24:242–4. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Vandana KL, Mahajan N, Savitha B. Knowledge, attitude, and practices of interdental aids among medical professionals in Davangere district, Karnataka. J Int Clin Dent Res Organ 2015; 7:39-43

Jain N, Mitra D, Ashok KP, Dundappa J, Soni S, Ahmed S. Oral hy-giene - Awareness and practice among patients attending OPD at Vyas Dental College and Hospital, Jodhpur. J Indian Soc Pe-riodontol 2012;16:524-8.

Abeer Khalid and Carlos Quinonez- Straight, white teeth as a social prerogative - Sociology of Health & Illness 2015; 37(5):782–796 doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12238

Manavazhagan D, Ahmed N, Uma Maheswari T N. Dental neg-lect in pediatric patients among Indian population: A review of case reports. Int J Forensic Odontol 2016; 1:4-5

Garg S, Dasgupta A, Maharana SP, Mallick N, Pal B. A study on impact of oral health on general health among the elderly residing in a slum of Kolkata: A cross-sectional study. Indian J Dent Res 2019; 30:164- 9

Jeddy N, Nithya S, Radhika T, Jeddy N. Dental anxiety and in-fluencing factors: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based sur-vey. Indian J Dent Res 2018; 29:10-5