STUDY TO COMPARE THE ORAL HEALTH BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDE AMONG THE PRE-CLINICAL AND CLINICAL UNDERGRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS

Background: The objective of this study was to compare the oral health behavior and attitude among the pre-clinical and clinical undergraduate dental students of a university in Pakistan. Study Design: A cross-sectional study was designed in the de’montmorency College of Dentistry, Lahore and the students were categorized as pre-clinical and clinical students. Materials and Methods: The students received informed consent and they were clarified the objective of the research. The questionnaire comprised of 20 stems with “Agree” and “Disagree” options. Students were asked to encircle the desired option. Total number of 12 options was selected for the analysis of oral health and the other 8 questions were related to general health. The English version of the “HU-DBI questionnaire” was given to the participants and the form was filled anonymously in the presence of a research team member. A comparison was carried out between pre-clinical and clinical undergraduate dental students through Mann-Whitney U test. Results: A total of 119 dental students took part in this research of which 52 (43.7 %) students were from pre-clinical classes while 67 (56.3 %) were clinical students. Overall mean score of oral health behavior was 6.03±1.613 while the median was 6±2. The mean score of students in pre-clinical group was 6.04±1.608 (median = 6±1) and the mean score of the students in clinical group was 5.98±1.627 (median = 6±1). The difference in mean scores of two groups was statistically insignificant (p=0.887). Conclusion: Hence, no significant difference was noted in oral health attitude and behavior between clinical and pre-clinical undergraduate dental students. Key Words: Oral hygiene, behavior and attitude, dental students, “Hiroshima University -Dental Behavior Inventory”