Oral health related knowledge, attitude, and practice among the pre-university students of Mysore city.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the oral health related behavior, knowledge, attitudes, and practices of pre-university students of Mysore city.


METHODS
A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 1000 pre-university students of Mysore city.


RESULTS
Statistical tests such as percentage distribution and Chi-square were used. P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Most of the students (88%, n = 880) knew that dental health reflects on the general health. Eighty-nine percent (n = 890) of students were aware that sweets and sticky food cause dental decay. Majority of the students (90%, n = 900) agreed that they visited dentist only when they had pain and cleaned their teeth once daily using toothbrush and tooth paste in vertical and horizontal motion.


CONCLUSIONS
The study showed that the students had good knowledge about the basic oral health measures necessary to maintain proper oral health, but their attitude and practices toward oral health was relatively poor.
Department of Dentistry, General Hospital, Molkalamuru, Chitradurga District, Karnataka, India.
Veera
V
Reddy
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sree Siddhartha Dental College and Hospital, Tumkur, Karnataka, India.
Darshana
D
Bennadi
Department of Conservative and Endodontics, Darshan Dental College and Hospital, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.
Satish
S
Gaduputi
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Dental College, Lamphelpat, Imphal West, Manipur, India.
Nandita
N
Kshetrimayum
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Ramaswamy Memorial Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Sibyl
S
Siluvai
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Dental College and Hospital, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
Chava Venkata Konda
CV
Reddy
Attitude; knowledge; oral health; practice; pre-university college students