An Assessment of Oral Health among Senior Secondary Students in Gwagwalada Area Council Abuja, Nigeria: An Urban-Rural Comparative Analytical Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Oral health is essential to general health and quality of life and means more than good teeth; it is integral to general health and essential for wellbeing. It is therefore important that oral health is taken as a serious public health issue as knowledge of what constitutes good oral care is pertinent to ensuring that the populace maintain good oral health habits. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of oral health among secondary students: an urban rural comparison. Methodology: This is a comparative cross sectional analytical study among senior secondary school students in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja. Data was collected from 307 respondents using a semi structured self-administered questionnaire. A cluster sampling technique was used to select the schools. Data was analysed using SPSS software version 21 at 5% significance level. We used chi square test to assess associations between variables and t-test to compare two means. Other associations were ascertained using cross tabulation of the relevant variables of interest. Results: A statistically significant difference was found between urban (67.2%) and rural (51.3%) students in knowledge (X=4.103, p= 0.04). Assessment of attitude using Likert scale showed generally no significant difference between urban and rural population of students (p=0.69). However about 60.7% and 66.3% of urban vs. rural students respectively reported that they would rather use herbal medications without regular visits to the dentist. Good practice of oral health was found to significantly differ between urban (59.9%) and rural (51.9%) school students (p = 0.03). As high as 50.3% and 46.8% of urban and rural students respectively brushed just once or less than once a day. Overall, female students brush more frequently than male student and this was a statistically significant difference, (p =0.001). Conclusion: Secondary school students in this setting generally had good knowledge, attitude and practise of oral health, however these findings were better among students in the urban schools and female students. We recommend improved health promotion and education efforts targeted at students in rural secondary schools and male students.