Do special needs students know about oral health care and its effect on oral diseases? Experience from Sokoto, Nigeria.

Abstract

Objective: To explore the knowledge level of special needs students on oral health care and its effect on oral diseases.
Methods: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey was carried out amongst the special needs students of Abdulrasheed Adisa Raji Special School Sokoto. A sample size of 236 was obtained from a total population of 448 students. The stratified random sampling technique proportional-to-size and a systematic random sampling method were used for group and subject selection respectively. Version 23 of IBM SPSS was used for Data analysis. A P-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Subjects consisted of 167 (70.8%) males and 69 (29.2%) females, aged between 6 to 28years (mean age 14.55 ± 3.657). The knowledge of oral health care and its effect on dental caries, periodontal disease, tooth loss, and dental problems, was generally adequate (The exception was the knowledge of the significance of using fluoride-containing toothpaste in preventing tooth decay)
When analysed by the type of disability, the physically impaired group had the best knowledge level (94%). The overall oral health care knowledge grade was fair (4.03 ± 1.55). The result was statistically significant (p=0.004).
Conclusion: Oral health care knowledge Level was generally fair among the study population. However, knowledge of the importance of brushing with fluoride toothpaste was deficient.