Oral hygiene status of adolescents in Nigeria rural areas

Background. Community based oral hygiene education and promotion activities through schools can improve knowledge, attitude and behaviour related to oral hygiene and oral health among school children and through them, families and community members. Objective. To determine the oral hygiene status of adolescents in south eastern Nigerian rural communities. Methodology. A secondary data analysis was done. The primary data was obtained from a cross-sectional study that recruited 296 children from a rural public technical college and three public secondary schools selected in Nkanu–West and Udi local Government Area of Enugu State respectively.. Socio-demographic data (age, sex, socio-economic status) was obtained using semistructured questionnaire. Oral hygiene examination was done by a single examiner using simplified oral hygiene index. Data were analyzed using SPSS Version 25 .P values < 0.05 were accepted as being statistically significant. Frequency distribution, mean scores and standard deviation were calculated. Results. One hundred and forty (47.3%) males, 156 (52.7%) females participated in the study. The mean age of the children was 13.56 ± 1.1 years. Seventy-eight children (26.4%) had good oral hygiene status, 207(69.9%) had fair oral hygiene status while 11(3.7%) had poor oral hygiene status . Good and fair oral hygiene status was seen more in females than males while poor oral hygiene status was seen more in males than females. Conclusion. Most of the adolescents in this study had fair oral hygiene status. A visit to dental clinic for preventive oral health services like scaling and polishing (oral prophylaxis) is recommended.