Assessing Oral Hygiene Status of Children in an Urban Setting in Sub-Sahara Africa

Abstract

Objectives: This study assessed oral hygiene status of children in Enugu metropolis and its association with age, sex, tooth brushing tools, frequency of tooth brushing, and past dental visits. Materials and methods: This was a secondary analysis of data. The primary study recruited children from primary schools in Enugu East Local Government Area in Enugu in 2020. Data on age, sex, level of education, tooth cleansing tools, frequency of brushing, dental visit, and oral hygiene status were collected. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 25. Multivariate logistic regression for potential determinants of oral hygiene status of children was conducted. A model was developed to determine the potential determinants of oral hygiene status among children in Enugu metropolis. The effect of all significant factors on dental visit was inferred at P< 0.05. Results: Children aged 5 to 12 years with mean age of 8.21±1.90 years participated in the study. There were 307 (48.3%) males and 329 (51.7%) female study participants. Many, 371 (58.3%), of the participants were aged 5-8 years and 540 (84.9%) had fair oral hygiene status. Males significantly had lower odds of having good oral hygiene (AOR: 0.154; CI: 0.035-0.687; P=0.014) when compared to the females. Conclusion: Many children had fair oral hygiene and sex was a risk indicator of oral hygiene status among children in this population.