Assessment of Nutritional Knowledge, Dietary Habits and Oral Health Practices of Undergraduate Students in Lead City University Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Nutrition is an essential component of oral health. Dietary intake of high-cariogenic foods rich in sugar could impair oral health. However, adequate nutritional knowledge determines dietary behaviour and consequently overall oral health practices. The study assessed the nutritional knowledge, dietary habits, and oral health practices of undergraduate students attending Lead City University Ibadan. The study was a descriptive design. 314 undergraduate students from all the faculties in the school participated in the study using a random sampling technique. Nutritional knowledge and oral health practices were assessed using a structured questionnaire while dietary habit was assessed using a Food frequency questionnaire. The nutrition knowledge was scored on a Likert scale of 11 and categorized as good (7-11), fair (5-6), and poor (< 5). Oral health practice was also scored on a scale of 8 and categorized as good (5-8) and poor (0-4). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 for descriptive and inferential statistics at p ≤ 0.05. The mean age was 22.53 ± 7.63, the majority were females (70%). Knowledge that sucrose is mostly caries prone was (35.7%), those that had no idea of anti-carious food (37.6%), and oral diseases can be prevented through nutritional knowledge (74.2%). Few students (18.5%) had good nutritional knowledge while (45.5%) had good oral health practice, especially among females. Dietary intake was characterized by high cariogenic foods such as carbonated drinks (42.0%), biscuits (40.1%), and beverages (34.7%). The undergraduate students had inadequate nutritional knowledge of foods that could affect dental health which is reflected in their dietary habits and also influenced their oral health practice.