Dental Health Awareness among Students of a Dental College and Hospital in Siliguri, West Bengal, India: A Cross-sectional Study

Aim: To examine students' perception of oral health knowledge, attitude, and behavior between their preclinical and clinical years.Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological survey was conducted among 292 undergraduate dental students and interns of a dental college and hospital, West Bengal, India.A self-administered, closed-ended questionnaire based on the English version of the Hiroshima University-Dental Behavior Inventory (HU-DBI) was adopted with 20 questions in a dichotomous response format.Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Chi-square test with p 0.05.Results: The mean HU-DBI score of clinical dental students (third year, final year, and intern) was significantly higher than compared of preclinical dental students (first year and second year), while there was no significant difference among the genders. Conclusion:The knowledge about oral care among the dental students in general was good, except in certain areas, there were some shortfalls.This study showed that, with increase in the level of education, there was improvement in the oral health awareness of the dental students.Clinical significance: The study showed that students with a higher level of education showed better awareness of dental health.Thus, the present study has provided an impression that oral health awareness programs should be conducted from the beginning of the dental curriculum so that students can get proper knowledge about the maintenance of oral health.