Periodontal Disease Knowledge and Oral Hygiene Practices of Dental and General Nursing Students in a Tertiary Hospital in South-West, Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: To assess the periodontal disease knowledge 
and oral hygiene practices of nursing students.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 
dental & general nursing students from the Lagos 
University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) using self administered questionnaires. The pre-tested 
questionnaire elicited information on socio-demographic 
characteristics, knowledge of periodontal disease, oral 
self-care and dental attendance practices. Data analysis 
was done using IBM SPSS version 23. Test for significance 
was done using chi-square statistics or Fisher’s exact test.

Results: The dental nursing students (97.8%) displayed 
better knowledge of periodontal disease compared to the 
general nursing students (66.7%). Only half (50.8%) of the 
nursing students demonstrated satisfactory self-oral 
hygiene practices and this was much less in the general 
nursing students (43.2%) than the dental nursing students 
(82.6%). Dental nursing students had better utilization of 
dental floss (71.3%) than general nursing students (29.6%). 
The roll and bass techniques were better utilized by dental 
nursing students (26.1% and 6.5%) respectively than the 
general nursing students (6.6% and 1.1%). Utilization of 
dental services and scaling and polishing treatment were 
poorer among the general nursing students (38%, 34.3%) 
than the dental nursing students (91.3%, 66.7%) 
respectively.

Conclusion: Knowledge of periodontal disease was 
inadequate among the nursing students of LUTH, though 
better among the dental nursing students. Oral hygiene 
practices were unsatisfactory, although compliance was 
better among dental nursing students. Recommended 
bass/roll brushing techniques were underutilized by both 
groups of nursing students while underutilization of dental 
floss was among the general nursing students. The findings 
highlight the need to include basic periodontal disease 
topics in the curriculum of general nursing students and 
constantly reinforce the need for good oral hygiene 
behaviour among nursing students in order to position 
them as change agents for periodontal health for patients 
under their care and community at large.