DENTAL CARIES STATUS, KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND ORAL HEALTH CARE PRACTICE AMONG 12 YEARS OLD STUDENTS IN ANUBANAMNATCHAROEN SCHOOL, AMNATCHROEN PROVINCE

Abstract

This study is a cross-sectional analytical study aimed to study dental caries status, knowledge, attitude and oral health care practice among 12 years old student in Anubanamnatcharoen school, Amnatcharoen province. Two hundred and forty-eight students were selected by simple random sampling technique. Data were collected by questionnaires with reliability at 0.65. The descriptive statistic and Spearman rank correlation coefficient were used in this work.

The results of this study revealed that most samples were female at 53.3%, weighted between 40 – 49 Kg at 31.9% and height between 150 – 159 cm at 44.4%. Dental health status showed that the dental caries with DMFT at 2.54, (SD = 1.50) and 2.00 of tooth filling, (SD = 1.02). Knowledge of dental caries at a high level (98.8%).  Attitude with oral health care practice showed a slightly high median (98.8%) but most of them had poor oral care behaviors. However, the factors of tooth brushing after lunch had a positive relationship with the condition of dental caries at very low level (r = 0.13, p <0.05). Therefore, children should be promoted to brush their teeth after lunch to reduce the incidence of dental caries.