KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF ORAL HEALTH CARE OF CHILDREN RESIDING IN ORPHANAGES OF UDAIPUR CITY

Dr. Ruchi Arora, Dr. Subha Dogra*, Dr. Dashmesh Thakur and Dr. Pratibha Taneja

ABSTRACT

Oral health is an integral component of general health which has great impact on quality of life. Groups of people such as disadvantaged children are often denied access to health information and knowledge due to a number of reasons for example inaccessibility, nature of the disadvantage that may necessitate participation of specialized professionals. The sudy was undertaken to assess the knowledge attitude and practices of orphan children. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 600 children aged 5, 12 and 15 years living in different orphanage houses of Udaipur city. The WHO self assessment questionnaire including 14 items with closed-ended questions was distributed.7 The questionnaire was meant to assess the sources of information on oral health knowledge, attitude, and practice of children living in the orphanages. The data obtained was statistically analysed and the result showed that oral health knowledge and practices were not satisfactory. The self perception of the study sample did not match with the knowledge, attitude and practices of the same. The absence of parents or caregivers does have a considerable effect on the oral health attitude of the child.

Keywords: Oral Health, Knowledge, Attitude, Orphanages, Dental Caries.