Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background: School teachers with high calibre of their training can persuade a large number of children thereby play major role in the planning and implementation of oral health preventive programs. Hence, this study was undertaken with the objective of assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of school teachers towards oral health. Materials & Method: A study was conducted in various government and private schools of Rishikesh, Uttarakhand ,India. A questionnaire containing three sections to ascertain the Knowledge about oral health among the teachers, Oral health practices among teachers and Teachers’ response about oral health education. A convenient sample of 100 teachers were included in the study. Self administered validated questionnaires were distributed among the subjects and the duly filled questionnaires were collected after showing the audiovisual aids regarding various oral hygiene measures at the same day from the respondents. Data hence collected was put to statistical analysis. Results: The mean knowledge score increased significantly from 3.17±1.43 to 8.10±1.31, attitude score increased significantly from 1.82±1.35 to 6.32±1.02 and practice score increased significantly from 3.65±1.65 to 8.72±1.98. Conclusion: Although not all the teachers have attempted to give oral health education to their children, almost all of them have agreed that it benefits children. There should be an attempt made by the teachers for oral health education to the children. The respondents need to improve their knowledge of dental problems and the reasons for the same. This study highlights the need to tailor oral health counseling of teachers. There needs to be an increased oral health promotion of the teachers so that they can help in an improvement of the growing child’s oral health, leading to a disease-free mouth and environment. Key words: Knowledge, Oral health education, Attitude, School teachers, Practice.