Oral hygiene status in relation to knowledge and practice of proper brushing techniques

Background: Previous studies in Bangladesh have emphasized on poverty and illiteracy as a major cause of poor oral hygiene but effectiveness of proper brushing techniques among the privileged population of the society still remains unexplored. The present study aims to find out whether any sort of brushing techniques is related to proper oral hygiene practices. Objective: To assess if lack of awareness regarding proper brushing techniques among the urban population of Bangladesh was a greater contributing factor to poor oral hygiene than financial solvency and literacy Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done. A total of 435 subjects were selected using non-probability convenient xampling and interviewed using an ultra-structured questionnaire. Subjects were asked regarding their oral hygiene practices, source of brushing knowledge, brushing techniques awareness through dental professional along with the demographic findings. Clinical examination wax done following the Greene-Vermilion's Debris/Calculus index. (Simplified Oral Hygiene Index) Results: Among the subjects, 92.18% were students, rest were housewives, service holders and self employed. A majority of 62.5% of the subjects gained their brushing knowledge from their parents. Only 33.6% and 27.6% of the subjects showed no debris or calculus respectively even though a total of 99% of the subjects regularly used toothbrush along with other cleaning aids. Also, out of the 15.4% subjects who regularly visited their dentists, 82.53% of the subjects were not made aware of proper brushing techniques by their dental professional. There was a high prevalence of debris and calculus even after the regular use of toothbrush. This indicates a flaw in the knowledge of brushing techniques used by the subjects. Furthermore, they failed to seek proper advice from dental professionals. Conclusion: Appropriate dental health education programs should be designed to create awareness among the population regarding proper brushing techniques. Such techniques should be properly trained to the parents by the dental health professionals.