Knowledge, attitude and practices towards oral health among secondary school students in Huye district, Rwanda.

Background: Good oral health knowledge is considered to be crucial for health-related practices and better oral hygiene.

Objective: This study was aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices towards oral health among secondary student in Huye district.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 386 students from public secondary schools with advanced level. Boarding secondary schools were excluded. Stratified Clustering sampling technique was used for selecting study participants. A closed ended questionnaire was used for collecting data. Results were found on the basis of percentage and frequency using SPSS 21.0 version.

Results: The majority of participants, 222 (57.5%) were female and 164 (42.5%) were male. The majority of the participants, 168 (43.5%) were between 15-17 years old. Out of the total population of students 1.8% had good knowledge, 56.2% had average knowledge and 42% had poor knowledge about oral health. Moreover, 56.2% had negative and 43.8% had positive oral health attitudes and overall practice towards oral hygiene of students showed that 74.6 % had poor practice and 24.4% had good practices.

Conclusion: Oral hygiene has to be long life practice and oral health education have to be included as part of the school environment.