ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Poor oral health is a public health problem. It is significantly associated with major chronic diseases including cardiovascular diseases,diabetes, respiratory diseases, stroke, oral cancers and dementia. Dental caries has been shown to affect the quality of life among adolescents. Several adolescents with dental caries that is left untreated complain of a negative effect on the quality of their life because of the pain and discomfort associated with dental caries. Hence, the importance of optimal oral health cannot be overemphasized.
OBJECTIVE: To access the knowledge, attitude, oral health status, and determinants of oral health amongst adolescents in Benin City.
METHODOLOGY: This study was a facility based study conducted in Benin City. Four hundred and sixty two in-school adolescents between 10-19 years who were attending public and private schools in Benin City and gave their consent participated in this study. It is study is a descriptive cross-sectional study utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The respondents were selected using two stage sampling technique. Instrument for data collection was a pretested, interviewer administered questionnaire, clinical examinations and interview guide. Data was analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for windows, version 22.0 software and level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
RESULTS: Amongst the two hundred and sixty four respondents to the study, 273 (59.1%) of respondents had good knowledge of oral health. Type of facility (p = 0.018), age group (p = 0.012), ethnicity (p = 0.001), religion (p < 0.001), occupational status of mother or guardian (p = 0.005), level of education of father or guardian (p = 0.001) and level of education of mother or guardian (p = <0.001) had significant association with knowledge of oral health among respondents.
