Knowledge and practice on oral hygiene maintenance among medical students in India

Oral hygiene is vital in preventing dental caries, periodontal diseases and systemic conditions like stroke and heart disease. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate oral health awareness among MBBS students and interns using a pretested, structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using the Chi-square test with a significance threshold of 0.05. A significant gender difference was observed in brushing frequency (P = 0.005) and only 36.9% of students reported brushing twice daily. Hence, there is a need to enhance oral health education in medical curricula for effective preventive healthcare.