A Study to Assess the Prevalence of Oral Problems and Awareness Regarding Oral Hygiene among Secondary School Children in Selected Schools at Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract: Oral health helps to maintain the health state of all the structures like lips, teeth, gum, tongue and palate, good oral hygiene emphasis on cleanliness and moisturizing of mouth structures. Objectives of the study is to assess the prevalence of oral problems among school children, determine the awareness of oral hygiene among school children, develop and distribute information booklet regarding prevalence of oral problem and awareness regarding oral hygiene, co-relate the prevalence of oral problems with awareness of oral hygiene among school children, find out the association between prevalence of oral problems and awareness of oral hygiene with selected sociodemographic variable. Material and Methods: Non- experimental descriptive research approach was employed descriptive design. A set of self-administered knowledge questionnaires was used to collect data. Written permission has obtained from the research ethical committee and formal written permission has also been obtained from the Principal of selected senior secondary schools The reliability of the tool was determined by using split half method and the tool was found to be highly reliable. Result: The findings reveal that 0.7% children had inadequate knowledge regarding oral hygiene, 7.0% children had moderate knowledge regarding oral hygiene, 92.3% children had adequate knowledge regarding oral hygiene. Mean Percentage Scores 46.02 and SD 6.118.

Keywords: Assess, Awareness, Oral Hygiene, Prevalence, School Children