Abstract:
Objective: To determine the prevalence of oral diseases among school going children and how their oral health behaviors relate with their oral health status.
Method: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Purposive and cluster sampling were used to select 279 school children from upper Primary and Junior High School in nine (9) basic schools in Assin North Municipal Area. Data were collected from the 279 students using the WHO Oral Health Questionnaire for Children and clinical examination done using the WHO Oral Health Assessment Form for Children.
Results: The participants were made up of 124(44.44%) males and 155(55.56%) females with their ages ranging between 9 and 19 years and a mean age of 14 years (13.99 ± 2.22). The prevalence of oral diseases among schoolchildren in Assin North Municipal Area was gum disease (31.54%), dental caries (6.09%) tooth fracture (2.16%) and enamel hypoplasia (1.44%).
All the participants used toothbrushes and only 11.11% use other items like charcoal, chewing stick and toothpicks in addition to the toothbrushes to clean their teeth. Although most of the children (98%) uses tooth paste, only a few (11.83%) knew that their toothpaste contained fluoride. Most of the children brush once a day (65.59%). 91.04% of the children eat fresh fruits weekly or daily. Most also ate biscuits (89.61%), chew gum containing sugar (89.61%), soft drinks (74.19%) tea with sugar (73.83%), sweets/candy (70.61%), and milk with sugar (63.8%). Diets like coffee with sugar (44.45%) and jam/honey (43.01%) were eaten less often.
No causal relationship between the oral health behaviors and oral diseases such as dental caries and gum diseases were observed. Conclusion: This study showed that school children in the Assin North municipal area practiced good oral health behaviors and practices. Health education programmes that emphasize good oral health practices need to be adopted by the institutions in order to maintain good oral health of the children.
