Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude and Practices amongst Medical Health Professionals: A Cross Sectional Study

Aim: To explore the attitude, methods and knowledge of oral health in different health professionals. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Combined Military Hospital and Medical College, Lahore from 1st January 2019 to 30th June 2019. Fifty four healthy professionals who are working in Combined Military Hospital and Medical College were included.. Results: There were 54 participants in total and it included 36 males and 18 females with male-to-female ratio of 2:1. The materials that was used most commonly for oral cleansing was the toothbrush and toothpaste; most of the participants replace their toothbrush within 2-3 months. The 66.7% of the respondents brushed their mouth/teeth twice a day; however, other oral cleansing components were documented in 66.7% of the respondents; their use were mostly after meals and majority (44.4%) used wooden toothpicks. On the other hand, the usage of dental floss was recorded in only 41.7% of the respondents; lack of awareness regarding dental flossing was the main apprehension among respondents who did not floss. Conclusion: Oral health knowledge was average among health care professional despite their high literacy rate. They responded positively towards dental treatment, the most common oral cleansing materials were toothpaste and toothbrush; the participants under the study regularly replaced their toothbrush with a new one. It was observed that most respondents cleaned their mouth two times a day and the usage of dental floss was less recorded among the respondents.