ABSTRACT
Objective:
To assess the oral health knowledge, attitude, behaviour, and its association with sociodemographic and habitual factors among South Indian Population.
Material and Methods:
A total of 288 adults living in a residential community situated in Chennai were selected by systematic random sampling method participated in this cross-sectional study. Data collection was carried out using a validated questionnaire.
Results:
About 97.9% of the participants in our study had good knowledge, 33.3% had a positive attitude and 48.2% had adequate oral health behaviour. Sociodemographic and habitual factors like diet (p=0.006), education (p=0.009), and employment (p=0.003) were significantly associated with knowledge. On the other hand, diet (p=0.012) was the only factor significantly associated with attitude. Ownership of house (p= 0.030) was significantly associated with behaviour and no factor was associated with all three KAB profiles. Absence of correlation were identified between Knowledge-Attitude (r=0.11, p=0.23), Knowledge-Behaviour (r= -0.037, p= 0.68) and Attitude-Behaviour (r =0.01, p=0.94).
Conclusion:
It has been found a massive number of participants possessed a high knowledge level towards oral health. On the other hand, less than half of the participants had a positive attitude and adequate behaviour towards oral health. No positive linear correlation was seen among knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards oral health.
Keywords:
Oral Health; Knowledge; Attitude; Health Behavior