Abstract

Background: Oral hygiene is essential for person’s health. The oral hygiene plays a key role for the maintenance of normal oral health and to prevent from some oral diseases like dental caries. The knowledge and practices among oral health are still grossly inadequate among many doctors. Hence, the awareness of oral hygiene among doctors should be improved to improve the oral health among the general population.Objectives: The objectives of this study were to know the knowledge of oral health and their cleaning methods among the 2nd year undergraduate medical students in Melmaruvathur Adhiparasakthi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive, institution-based study was conducted among the 2nd year undergraduate medical students of Melmaruvathur Adhiparasakthi Institute of Medical College and Research, from September 2014 to January 2015. The data were collected among 142 2nd year medical students in the department of community medicine using pretested questionnaire. After that, the study subjects were examined for the oral cavity.
Results: A total of 142 medical students were participated in this study. Out of them, 72 (50.70%) were male and rest 70 (49.29%) were female. The overall prevalence of dental caries was 14% (20).
Conclusions: We found that the presence of dental caries, bleeding gums, dryness of mouth, and bad breath high among medical students. At this stage, the maintenance of oral hygiene is very important to prevent further progression. This highlights the need for increasing the awareness on oral hygiene practices and dangers they may pose.