Oral health status, treatment needs and knowledge, attitude and practice of health care workers of Ambala, India - A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background:Health care workers (HCWs) from an important component of the health care system of any nation. Adequate knowledge regarding oral health is also mandatory as it is directly related to general health. Aim: The present study was undertaken to assess oral health status and treatment needs of the health workers in Ambala district and to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of HCWs.Subjects and Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted among 148 HCWs of Ambala District. World Health Organization (WHO) Oral Health Performa-1997 was used to collect the data. For the diagnosis of dental caries, WHO type III examination was done using mouth mirrors and sharp probes while periodontal assessments were done by community periodontal index-probes. The data were analyzed using SPSS package, Chicago, IL, version 13.0.Results:Eating sweets and poor oral hygiene lead to dental caries were cited as the main reasons for dental caries by 62.2% (92/148) of subjects. Majority of the subjects (43.2%, 64/148) used to brush their teeth once a day. Mean number of decayed and missing teeth due to caries were 4.73 and 0.628 respectively. Prosthetic needs for maxillary arch were almost the same when compared to the prosthesis in the mandibular arch. Majority of the male (82.1%, 46/56) and female (79.3%, 73/92) subjects were having calculus.Conclusion:Attitude of the health workers toward oral health was poor as they had significantly higher treatment needs. The present study emphasized the need of regular dental checkup and health education of HCWs.

Measuring Oral Health Literacy for Nurses and Dental Assistants

“…This method is very specific and require a real understanding of different dental terms and how they look which might explain the low mean dental knowledge score for medical nurses in the current study. The unfavorable oral health behaviors reported in the present study among nurses is in agreement with previous studies which reported similar findings 14,19,20 . The favorable dental service utilization reported by nurses challenges the previous study by Oyetola et al 19 in which 98% of nurses reported unfavorable attendance pattern.…”

Association between geographic location and periodontitis

“…(Marya, 2010) reported that the age group of 20-30 years high prevalence for periodontal disease (64.84%) whereas in the current study it was found to be the highest in of 35-49 years old (38.0%) which is contradicting and the possible reason could lack time for the oral care. Gambhir et al (2014) reported that the prevalence of early stages of PD involvement was 60.0%. The same author also quotes studies carried out in Trivandrum & Madras, which 90.3% and 95.0% respectively suffer from early stages of PD.…”

Prevalence of Oral Health Status among the General Population in Kallakurichi District, Tamil Nadu, India- A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Dental caries and periodontal diseases are the most existing prevalent diseases throughout the world, especially in developing countries such as India. [ 4 - 6 ] “The prevalence of dental caries in Tamil Nadu was found to be 63.9%,”[ 7 ] and 50% of them had gingivitis, whereas 36% of the people in Tamil Nadu had a prevalence of periodontal diseases. [ 8 , 9 ] The Indian state of Tamil Nadu consists of 38 districts.…”