Knowledge Attitude and Practices of Patients Attending a Private Dental Hospital on Miswak

Today, chewing sticks are being used commonly in the world. They are known by various names, including Miswak or arak in Arabic. The efficacy of Miswak and modern toothbrushes have shown a superior effect rather than use of toothbrush alone. This study aims to assess the Knowledge Attitude and Practices of patients attending a private dental hospital on Miswak. This is a cross-sectional analytical study. The study was conducted by means of a questionnaire, in order to obtain knowledge, attitude and practices of patients attending a private dental hospital on Miswak. An electronic copy of the questionnaire was prepared using Google forms in Arabic and distributed through social media. There were 342 respondents for the survey. About 93% of the participants selected that they use any oral hygiene aid as it is beneficial. Among all the participants only 2.3% of them used Miswak as an oral hygiene aid and 31.6% used both tooth brush and paste and Miswak. Majority of the respondents cleaned their teeth twice or thrice in a day. One of the main reasons of using Miswak by the participants was its religious background. The respondents prefer that the next generation would use a combination of Miswak and tooth brush.