ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR ON ORAL HEALTH AND CORRELATION OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS WITH ORAL HEALTH

A vital component of general health is oral health. A patient with good dental health is able to continue playing their social and functional duties.With 68.84% of the population living in villages (1.21 billion), methods must be tailored to this subgroup. Key issues include low knowledge, inadequate infrastructure, lack of motivation, and oral health legislation. In India, education and income levels influence oral health knowledge and attitudes. Political, socioeconomic,familial, and historical factors shape behaviours and opportunities.Understanding the interplay of age, sex, occupation, and economy helps identify inequalities in oral health awareness.The purpose of this study is to evaluate oral health behaviour, attitudes, and knowledge among residents of Tamil Nadu's Chengalpattu are and to assess any correlation between socioeconomic status and oral health knowledge, attitude and behaviour. In my study, Education, employment and income shows a statistically significance with oral health knowledge with p value < 0.05, and the comparison between socioeconomic status and their behaviour tow oral health is not statistically significant at p < 0.05, using One-way ANOVA. Knowledgeable individuals often receive false information about oral health, leading to poor dental hygiene habits. Health promotion is needed to help people translate knowledge into action. We recommend prioritizing comprehensive oral health training in university curricula to enhance knowledge,attitudes,and behaviours, particularly for non-health students. Future research should be more extensive, involving larger populations and longitudinal approaches.