A STUDY ON ORAL HEALTH KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE AMONG POPULATION OF SISWANI JAHADA VDC IN BIRATNAGAR CITY, NEPAL - A QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

The study is aimed to evaluate oral hygiene practice, knowledge and attitude among population of Siswani Jahada VDC in Biratnagar city, Nepal. This is a cross sectional study which included 1280 population selected by random sampling method. The consent for the participation was obtained verbally. A pre-tested close- ended questionnaire was used for the study.The result of this study show that 98.35% had habit of cleaning their teeth while very few numbers 1.6% were not cleaning teeth. It was seen that 62.3% brushed their teeth using toothbrush and tooth paste. 94.9% brushed only once a day, 33% brush twice a day while 25 1.9% brushes more than twice per day. Of 62.96% who used the brush, 41.7% participants change their brush in every 1-3 months, 33.1% change every six months and 25% change only after it worn out. Surprisingly, 70.76% of the respondents were aware of using fluoridated toothpaste and only 29.2% were not using it. 31.5% of the participants reported that they had suffered from some form of dental problem and 17.1% consulted the trained dentist and pain was the main factor for them to visit the dentist. 48.2% participants feel that dental caries is the most common dental disease, major factor being irregular brushing followed by consuming more sweets. Results of this study prove that oral hygiene habits, oral health awareness and knowledge level among population of siswani jahada VDC is satisfactory and need to be improved