Oral Hygiene Practice Among Higher Secondary Level Students in Pokhara

Abstract

The thesis entitled “Oral Hygiene Practice among Higher Secondary Level students In Pokhara”was a carried out to assess awareness of oral hygiene. The main objectives of this study were to find out the knowledge and awareness of oral hygiene practices. Adolescence is a stage of storm and stress, so they don’t pay more attention to maintain inner beauty; they just concentrate toward outer beauty.Therefore they are not serious towards healthy food and attracted towards tasty foods only. They specially like junk foods such as biscuits, noodles, chocolates, cold drinks etc. In this study, data were collected by using a presented questionnaire over 160 randomly selected students from four schools. Results showed no significant differences between the gender and age groups in terms of knowledge levels. The study showed that dental caries, gum bleeding, gingivitis, oral ulcer, dental plaque and calculus, bad breathing, pain, stomatitis, glossitis etc. were the major problems among them. A mostly dental caries, dental plaque and calculus bad breathing, gum bleeding were more common on then.The students had positive attitude towards the oral health services but their visits were still low due to economical condition because oral health treatment sector is more expensive than other sector. Tooth brush and toothpaste were still the most commonly used oral hygiene aids. As compared to parents and friends,dentist was perceived to have more influence on oral hygiene practices among the students. Oral health education should be a life-long practice and incorporated into the school environment with the support of teachers and parents.