Knowledge And Practice Of Preventive Measures For Oral Health Care Among 14-16 Year Old School Children In Chennai – An Observational Study*

The absence of periodontal disease, tooth decay, oral cancer, oral infection, and other disorders is a condition known as oral health. The general health is maintained by good oral health. The purpose of this study is to evaluate oral health knowledge and practise among children between the ages of 14 and 16 years, as well as to evaluate the use of preventative measures for oral health care.A cross-sectional survey of the youngsters was carried out to gauge their level of awareness on oral health. 103 people were included in the study’s sample. Google Forms has received a self-structured survey that has been produced and submitted. The children between the ages of 14 and 16 are being asked to complete this common questionnaire on Google Forms. When p 0.05, statistical significance is considered to exist. SPSS, or Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 23, was used for statistics. Age and gender were independent variables, whereas oral health knowledge, awareness, and practise were dependent variables. The study had 103 volunteers that ranged in age from 14 to 16. The majority of students—nearly 86.4 percent—said they only brush their teeth once each morning. Girls are more aware of the need of caring after their gums than guys are. Girls go to the dentist more frequently than guys do. There were no discernible differences in other oral health attitudes between the sexes. We may infer from this study that women are more knowledgeable than men about maintaining dental health. Kids may learn more about maintaining oral health. By this study, we made the recommendation that programmes to enhance dental awareness within that age range be evidence-based and based on research.