Oral health awareness among undergraduate medical students and interns: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Oral health is an integral component of general health. Many oral systemic diseases manifest orally, and general medical practitioners are the primary health-care providers in society, so understanding oral health and its significance is critical for medical students and practitioners. The present study was conducted to assess the oral health awareness among MBBS students and interns. Materials and Methods: After obtaining institutional ethical committee approval, the present cross-sectional study was conducted among 318 subjects who were second, third, and final year MBBS students and interns of ESIC medical college and PGIMSR. A validated, self-structured questionnaire comprising of 20 questions pertaining to oral health awareness were prepared using Google forms and was sent to the study participants tthrough WhatsApp and the findings were analysed using proper statistical methods. Results: In the present study, 19% of the study population had good oral health awareness, 49% and 32% had fair and poor oral health awareness, respectively. The final year students had a good oral health awareness compared to the other years of students and interns. Oral health awareness scores did not differ significantly between male and female study participants. Conclusion: The present study found a fair oral health awareness amongst the study population. Clinical Significance: A proper knowledge of oral health is very essential among the medical students as they would be approached by the general population for most of the primary health-care needs.