Oral health Knowledge among Public Preparatory Schools Students in Benghazi City

Abstract

Background: Oral health is an integral part of general health , oral health knowledge is considered to be an essential prerequisite for health related practices, so, the first step in establishing a good oral habits is to provide relevant knowledge to children and adolescents to rise their awareness of how to prevent oral disease, an adequate oral health knowledge during adolescence period improve attitudes and behaviors toward dental health. Objective: The scope of this study is to assess the level of oral health knowledge among adolescents students aged between 12-15 attending public preparatory schools in Benghazi, Libya.The main objective of the study is: To compare between female and male students in oral health knowledge level in association to the level of their parents education. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was used in this research that analyzed data from a representative sample at a specific time by using a modified questionnaire, rate of response was 89.3%,the questionnaire included two parts, demographic and information about oral health, statistical analyses and chi square test were used and statistical significant was set as p=o.o5. Results: In the total sample, 45.8% of participants were males and 54.2% of participants were females, study analyses showed that students who were interested to get information about oral health 95%, also study analyses showed that students who were interested to get information about oral health were significantly of 97.2% in females, whilst 93.2% in males, also the results showed that the ninth grade of age fifteen have more knowledge about the importance of oral health. Conclusion: It can be concluded from this study that females adolescents tend to visit dentist more than males, The study revealed that females engage better in oral hygiene behavior and possess a greater interest in oral health than do males, Parents help and encouragement about oral health self-care had a significant relationship with higher proportion in females, and the overall knowledge of adolescents was good. Key word: Oral health knowledge among adolescents.