Periodontal health related practice and awareness among undergraduate medical students and interns of Government Medical College Thrissur–A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Medical students are considered to be representative of the educated, influential and motivated class of individuals and are considered to have a better perception and realization of maintaining oral health when compared to general population. Hence the present study aims to assess the periodontal health practices and awareness among medical professional students. This cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students and interns of Govt Medical College Thrissur using an online proforma and analysis done using SPSS. A statistically significant association was noted between gender and periodontal health practices and also between periodontal health awareness and year of study and posting category. Interns were 2.56 times more aware of periodontal health than students with a p value ˂ 0.01. Clinical students were 2.4 times more aware of periodontal health than preclinical students with a p value ˂ 0.01. Statistically significant mild positive correlation was observed between age and periodontal health awareness with Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.379 and a mild negative, statistically non-significant correlation was observed between age and periodontal health practice. There is a need to further educate and motivate medical students on oral and periodontal health practice so that it improves the future efforts of medical professionals in contributing to oral health as they are often the first contact for patients.