A Recent Perspective of Oral Health and Awareness about Oral Hygiene among the Patients in a Tertiary Care Dental Hospital, Kolkata

Background: The background of this study was to evaluate oral hygiene need, method of practicing the oral hygiene, and oral health awareness among the patients reported to the tertiary care dental hospital and their association with socioeconomic status if any as it corelates directly with oral heath status. Materials and Methods: A total of 428 systemically healthy adult patients who were initially agreed to participate were selected. They were enquired about their oral hygiene practices and the oral health awareness were assessed based on pretested and predesigned, semistructured scheduled questionnaires. Results and Observations: Chi-square test was done to find the association between the variables. The females were having favorable oral hygiene practices compared to males with odds ratio of 3.61 and P < 0.05 and also the oral hygiene awareness was 1.18 times better in females compared to males. Discussion: Majority of orodental problems and stigmas could be avoided by increasing oral hygiene awareness and oral health education which in turn would reduce financial burden to the society at a mass level and increasing overall well-being.