Knowledge and practices of oral health care in final year undergraduate nursing students: A cross-sectional study

Background: Nursing personnel plays a crucial role in promoting health and preventing information dissemination in the community. Aim: to assess and evaluate the oral health knowledge and practices of final year nursing students of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh (India). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in five nursing colleges of Jabalpur. A total of 172 students participated in the survey, which were given a questionnaire that comprised 26 questions. The questionnaire were evaluated under four parts such as information on dental and oral health, oral hygiene practices, attitude toward dentist and dentistry, and interest to improve knowledge, after which the data were analyzed to compare the statistical significance among the variables. Results: 84.3% of the participants knew how many teeth we have in our mouth. Many of them were not aware of proper brushing method. However, they revealed an adequate knowledge toward the identification of disease and its relation to general health. They also showed knowledge regarding the effect of diet on oral health, but 83.1% of them were confused with the identification of tooth decay. Approximately 51.7% of participants were unsure about the number of visits a person should make to a dentist. Conclusion: Nursing undergraduates have adequate knowledge on the basic oral structure and identifying oral diseases. However, they are little puzzled with the brushing method, number of visits a person should make to a dentist. They were not updated with the specialties in dentistry. Many of them showed interest toward camps and clinical postings to enhance their knowledge toward oral health care