Oral Health Status Among Trainee Schoolteachers in  Kuala Lumpur

Objective:  To determine oral hygiene, caries status, denture status and treatment needs among trainee schoolteachers in Teachers Education Institutes in Kuala Lumpur. Method: A sample of 4660 Semester 5 teacher trainees, cohorts between 2006 to 2011, from four Teacher Training Institutes located in Kuala Lumpur.  The data collected and reported was part of a routine exercise carried out in conjunction with the Trainee Teachers Dental Health program. Simple Oral Hygiene Index and DMF Index were used for measuring oral hygiene and caries, respectively. In addition, need for or wearing dentures and last visit to the dentist were also included in the data collection form. Data was analysed using SPSS version 14. Result:  In all 4306 (92.4%) of the teacher trainees agreed to be examined. Of these, about 45.5% had either fair or poor oral hygiene, 37% needed prophylaxis and scaling. Dental caries was observed in 80.3% of the sample examined and the mean DMF were 3.2 ± 2.1. About 4.2% of the trainees had dentures, 0.1% wearing ill-fitting dentures, and 6% need partial dentures. Majority of them (44.7%) had visited their dentist more than three years ago. Conclusion:  There is a significant need to enhance the importance of oral health care among the teacher trainees first.