Muhammad Salman Rashid, Irfan Ali, Zia-ur Rahman Khan, Sharjeel Bashir, Syed, Mahmood Haider, Nabeel Hafeez, Muhammad Aqeel Aslam, Abdul Hadi Bashir.
Attitude Towards Own Oral Health and Hygiene: a Survey of Medical and Dental Students of Karachi, Pakistan.
J Pak Dent Assoc Jan ;25(2):53-8.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to compare the attitude of medical and dental undergraduate students of various medical and dental institutes, towards their own oral hygiene and habits. METHODOLOGY: This was a questionnaire based analytical cross sectional study conducted in various dental and medical institutes of Karachi. The questionnaires were circulated amongst the selected medical and dental institutes of the city. A total of 1100 undergraduate students filled and returned the questionnaire. Data analysis was done on SPSS Version 14.0 using Chi Square test of associations. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statically significant. RESULT: The study shows that medical students (n=663, 60.3%) were more concerned about oral hygiene than dental students (n=437, 39.7%) (p=0.001). Among them females (n=815, 74.1%) were more conscious about oral hygiene than males (n=285, 25.9%) (p=0.001). Clinical students (n=347, 31.5%) were more aware about their hygiene than pre-clinical students (n=753, 68.5%) (p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitations of this study medical students, female gender and students in clinical rotations had better attitude towards own oral health and hygiene. KEYWORDS: Oral health, oral hygiene, attitude, dental students.

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