Asian Journal of Dental Sciences

Background: Oral diseases remains a major public health problem with teeth decay as the most common global disease affecting many individuals and families. About 60-90% of school children worldwide had experience caries, with higher prevalence in Asian and Latin American countries. A healthy mouth helps to individual to talk, eat and interact with people without having active disease, discomfort or pain. The study aims to assess the oral hygiene practices among the school children.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 432 school children from private school of grade 8, 9 and 10. Semi structured and self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Multistage sampling technique followed by simple random sampling was done to reach the participants. The data was entered and analysed using SPSS software V.16.0 and MS-excel.

Results: The study found that only about one third (36%) of the respondents had good oral hygiene practices and more than three-fifth (64%) of the respondents had poor self-reported oral health status. The study found the significant difference between sex, mother's education and monthly household income with oral hygiene practices (p < 0.05). Self-reported oral health status was found statistically significant with age group, dental visit, duration of cleaning teeth and use of interdental aids.

Conclusion: Poor oral health practice among school children is still prevalent and is major public health problem in Nepal. School health knowledge, awareness and practice need to be emphasized and start from preschool so that this habit is practiced from early childhood.