Knowledge of Caries Preventive Measures for Children among Medical and Dental Students in Benin City

Abstract

Objective: To assess the knowledge of caries preventive measures for children  among clinical medical and dental students in the University of Benin.

Methods: A descriptive cross- sectional study was carried out among medical and dental students of the University of Benin, Nigeria. Respondents were selected using systemic sampling techniques. Data was obtained using a structured self-administered questionnaire.  Oral health behaviour among respondents and knowledge of caries preventive measures in children were determined and analyzed  using IBM SPSS version 22.0. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. 

Results: The age of participants varied from 18-30 years with  a mean age of 22.6±5 years. The oral health behaviour of most of the respondents was fair (50.0%), while 33.3% and 16.7% had good and  poor oral health behaviour respectively. The knowledge of caries preventive measures for children among the respondents, only 22.3% of  the respondents had good knowledge while about 49.2% had an average knowledge and 28.4% had a low knowledge. 

Conclusion:  This study showed that the knowledge of caries preventive measures in children was low among medical and dental students. There is  need for a more focused approach to oral health education to ensure the medical and dental students are equipped with sufficient  knowledge for their future practice.