Self-perceived oral health status and oral health-related attitude among special needs school children and young adults in North-western Nigeria
To evaluate the self-perceived oral health status and oral health-related attitude among special needs school children and young adults in north-western Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey among special needs school children and young adults in north-western Nigeria. The participants’ socio-demographics, self-perceived oral health status, and oral health-related attitude were determined via descriptive statistics. IBM SPSS version 23.0 was used for data analyses. Statistical significance was set at a P-value ≤ 0.05. Two hundred and thirty-six special needs students participated in the study. The self-perceived oral health status of the study participants was generally good. Analysis of their oral health attitude shows more than half of the participants (n=133; 56.4%) agreed that it was important to visit the dentist whether one had pain or not. A majority (n=188; 79.7%) agreed that the care of the teeth and gum is as important as other parts of the body. However, over half of the participants (n=127; 53.8%) believed that teeth and gum problem is less important than other health problems. The oral health attitude level of the study population was fair with a mean attitude score of 3.93 ± 1.77. The result was statistically significant (p=0.000). The self-perceived oral health status of the study participants was generally good, and their oral health attitude level was fair. However, areas of poor self-perception and negative attitudes were observed. Therefore, we recommend oral health programmes that aim to improve these observed areas.
Keywords: Attitude, children, oral health, self-perception, special needs, young adults.
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