Self-Perception of dental problems among intermediate school children in Abha, KSA

Background and objective: Oral health is one of the essential elements of the overall health status of the people. Dental hygiene and dental diseases concern to have a major public health problem. The aim of this study was to know the proportion self-perception of dental problems and their relation with the socio-demographic characteristics among female students at intermediate governmental schools in Abha. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among girls students of two intermediate government schools of Abha city during October 2016 to April 2017 academic year by using self-administered questionnaire and informed verbal consent was obtained, using simple random sampling techniques for choosing 400 students. Results: Mean age of the students was 12.30±1.82, 163(41%) of students were 12-13 years of age and 200(50%) from 1st year of intermediate scholastic year. Almost all students belong to nuclear family system and 64%lived in rented houses. Working status of father and mothers was 94% and 53% respectively, 88% family’s monthly income >10000 SAR/per month, 203 (51%) fathers and 171 (43%) mothers had secondary school or higher education. Illiteracy was 13% among fathers and 19% among mothers. The proportion of self-perceived dental problems was 43% among students, malocclusion of teeth was most frequent while bad smell was the least frequent complaints among all dental problems. Only 38% of the students were considering dental problem as a serious problem. Dental problems were found to have significantly (P value <0.001) associated with age, scholastic year, father’s education and occupation, and income. Conclusion: It is concluded that although prevalence of dental problems were higher but frequency of self-perceived problems were much lower which highlighted that there is need to increase the awareness of dental problems among population to have a better general health status.