Oral Hygiene Practices and Reasons for Delaying Dental Treatment Among Patients Attending A Public-Sector Tertiary-Care Dental Hospital

Background: Good oral hygiene and regular dental visits are recommended to prevent and manage oral health problems. Lack of utilization of dental services and barriers in seeking regular dental care can lead to delaying in treatment of dental diseases, leading tooth loss. Objective: To determine the oral hygiene practices and reasons for late seeking of dental treatment among the patients visiting public tertiary care hospital. Study design, settings and duration: A Cross sectional study was conducted at oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, PMC Dental Institute, Faisalabad Medical University/Allied Hospital, Faisalabad from August 2019 to October 2019. Methodology: The questions were divided into three sections; demographic detail, regarding oral hygiene practices and reasons for delay in dental treatment. Results: Out of 400 participants 376 (94%) questionnaire were collected and analyzed. Male to female ratio was 1:2 whereas, mean age of the participants ranged from 16-80 year, 115 participants (32.4%) had metric level education, whereas 122 (32.4%) participants had monthly income