ORAL HYGIENE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN BY DENTAL STUDENTS IN A TEACHING DENTAL HOSPITAL

Objectives: To investigate the extent to which dental students target their efforts towards patients’ oral hygiene instructions.
Methods: A) SAMPLE SIZE: A population of hundred (100) dental students of Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry (AFID) was given a questionnaire to assess the information regarding their habits of instructing patients about oral hygiene measures. The questionnaire was based on Likert scale with the frequency ranging from “daily” to “never”.
B) INCLUSION CRITERIA:
Those who were willing to participate in the study.
Undergraduate dental students who had undergone their clinical training, house officers, and post graduate dental students working in AFID.
C) EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
Those who were not willing to participate in the study.
D) METHODOLOGY: It was a descriptive study based on a standard questionnaire .The questionnaire had three parts and we used the second part for our research i.e. Prevention Skills.
Results: ●The dental students who had undergone the study comprised of 70% females and 30% males.
●Overall 64.9% reported that they provide oral hygiene instructions to their patients; 28.2% reported that they provide oral hygiene instructions to most of their patients and 6.9% reported that they never provide oral hygiene instructions to their patients.
Amongst the participants, 49.4%reported giving instructions at every treatment, 38.7% at every periodic treatment and 11.9% reported that they provide oral hygiene instructions only at first appointments.

Conclusions: ●Participants did not provide enough instructions in order to improve their patients’ performance.
●Dental students should pay more attention towards educating their patients regarding oral hygiene instructions for maintenance of a healthy oral environment.