Poster Presentation

Abstract:

Majority of our population suffer from oral health diseases. It is understandable to think
that illiteracy and poverty is the cause of poor oral hygiene. If that were true, there should
be decreasing prevalence of oral pathology amongst the educated and financially well-off
percentage of our population. Like any other developed country, an educated and
financially solvent fraction of our population does regularly maintain oral hygiene using
the right tools i.e. toothbrush. Yet the prevalence of etiology of oral diseases is high in
said populationd.
Objective: To assess awareness regarding proper brushing techniques in regard to oral
hygiene.

Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in urban area of Dhaka in 2015 by the
(then) second year students of BDCH. A total of 435 subjects were interviewed using a
semi-structured questionnaire. Data were collected on status of oral hygiene, source of
brushing techniques knowledge through dental professional along with the demographic
findings. Clinical examination was done following the Greene-Vermilion’s
Debris/Calculus index.

Results: Among the subjects, 92.18% were students, rest were homemakers, service
holders and self-employed. A majority of 62.5% of the subjects got their brushing
knowledge from their parents. Only 33.6% and 27.6% of the subjects showed no debris
and calculus respectively even though a total of 99% of the subjects regularly use
toothbrush along with other cleaning aids. Out of the 15.4% subjects who regularly
visited their dentists, 82.53% of the subjects were not made aware of proper brushing
techniques by their dental professional.

Conclusion: Presence of debris and calculus even after the regular use of toothbrush
were found among the subjects. This indicates a gap in the knowledge of brushing
techniques practiced by the subjects. Furthermore, they failed to seek proper advice.
There should be health education programs to aware the general population regarding
proper brushing techniques. Dentists should also advise their patients about the proper
brushing habits.

Key words: oral hygiene, brushing techniques, health education, debris, calculus.
Taseef H. Farook
Bangladesh Dental College
Dhanmondi, Dhaka