Year : 2022

Volume : Volume 13

Issue : Issue 3

Address for correspondence :
Anindya Priya Saha
dreamy.aps@gmail.com

Abstract

Background: Oral health is an integral part of systemic health. Oral diseases pose a major public health burden for several countries. India also belongs to the list. The state which was having most oral health problems reported by its people was West Bengal. Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students will enter into the oral health-care system and their awareness has an important impact on the community at large.
Unfortunately, there is a dearth of the literature on the knowledge, attitude, and behavior of dental students of West Bengal as well as in India. The aims of the study were to explore the present knowledge of students of BDS, as well as their attitude and practice of oral health; and compare those among different academic years; and perform a gender disaggregated analysis. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional
study was conducted in a dental college of Kolkata during 2015, by administering a self-reported questionnaire among the students studying BDS. Results: A total 273 {137 male (50.2%) and 136 female (49.8%)} students from different academic years were participated in the study. There was weak correlation (0.234) between knowledge and attitude in Pearson’s two-tailed significance test. No significant correlation
(0.038) was seen between attitude and behavior, while a little correlation (0.158) was observed between behavior and knowledge. A moderate correlation (0.690) was found between knowledge and progression of academic year, while there were weak and no correlation in case of attitude (0.191) and behavior (0.062), respectively, with academic year. No significant difference was found between male and female students
in this regard. Conclusion: BDS students’ knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding oral health were lagging and needed improvement.

Keywords: Attitude, Behaviour, Dental, Health, Knowledge, Oral.