Determinants Of Oral Hygiene Status Among Junior Secondary School Students In Ilorin West Local Government Area Of Nigeria

Abstract

Oral diseases are the most common form of chronic disease and are important public health problem because of their high prevalence, their Impact on individual and society, and expense of treatment. Toothache leads to school absenteeism, which is a ready indicator of children's health. A study to assess the oral health practices of junior secondary school students would reveal how far the nation has gone in promoting oral health using the WHO common risk factor approach. This work is thus, aimed at assessing oral hygiene status of respondents and determining some of the factors responsible for this status. A total of 399 students were used for the study. Multi stage sampling technique was used in selecting participants for the study. A semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The collected data was analysed using EPI-INFO 2007 software package. Oral examination was carried out by the dentist using the WHO Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S). Result showed that 72% of respondents had fair oral hygiene status while the remaining had good oral hygiene status. Some of the factors influencing the oral hygiene status include frequency of sweet consumption (p= 0.003), types of school respondents were attending (p= 0.000) and history of visit to the dentist (p= 0.000). Frequency of tooth brushing (p= 0.190) and history of past oral disease (p= 0.784) did not have any influence on the oral hygiene status of respondents. These determinants will further aid the educators on areas to teach students in order to encourage and enhance good oral hygiene amongst them.