Evaluation of the Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior among Preclinical and Clinical Dental Students in Benghazi, Libya

• Nadein A. Elsharif

  Department of Periodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya

  Author

Oral hygiene awareness is essential for oral health, as a lack of oral hygiene education leads to neglect of oral hygiene practices. Maintaining good oral hygiene requires efforts from dental professionals and patients. The present study aims to evaluate oral health knowledge, attitude, and behavior among preclinical and clinical dental students at Benghazi University. A cross-sectional study was conducted on dental students at the University of Benghazi utilizing an online questionnaire. Twenty-six questions were designed to assess dental students' knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding oral health. The data was statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA tests and Student's t-test. 186 students voluntarily participated. The data showed statistically significant differences in knowledge, attitude, and behavior scores between both preclinical and clinical dental students (P<0.0001). Moreover, the differences in all categories’ scores revealed a significant increase with academic years (P < 0.0001). However, the variance in scores of both genders presented was not statistically significant (P > 0.01). This study displayed improved knowledge, attitude, and behavior with the year of study.

1. Nadein A. Elsharif, Department of Periodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya

   Department of Periodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi, Benghazi, Libya  

Ahamed, S., Moyin, S., Punathil, S., Patil, N. A., Kale, V. T., & Pawar, G. (2015). Evaluation of the Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior of the Preclinical and Clinical Dental Students. Journal of International Oral Health : JIOH, 7(6), 65–70.

Al-Omari, Q., & Hamasha, A. A. (2005). Gender-Specific Oral Health Attitudes and Behavior among Dental Students in Jordane. J Contemp Dent Pract, 6(1), 107–114.

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Adolescent oral health care. (2024). Adolescent oral health care. The Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry, 323–332.

Bascones-Martínez, A., Muñoz-Corcuera, M., Noronha, S., Mota, P., Bascones-Ilundain, C., & Campo-Trapero, J. (2009). Host defence mechanisms against bacterial aggression in periodontal disease: Basic mechanisms. Medicina Oral, Patologia Oral y Cirugia Bucal, 14(12), e680–e685. https://doi.org/10.4317/medoral.14.e680

Bhat, P., Kumar, A., & Aruna‎, C. (2010). Preventive oral health knowledge, practice and behaviour of patients attending dental institution in Bangalore, India. J Int Oral Health, 2, 1–6.

Bhat, S., Gupta, R., Jadeja, N., & Sharma, R. (2014). Oral hygiene practices, smoking habits, and self-perceived oral malodor among dental students of Udaipur City, Rajasthan. Journal of Dental Herald, 1(2), 1–4.

Chandra Shekar, B. R., Reddy, C. V. K., Manjunath, B. C., & Suma, S. (2011). Dental health awareness, attitude, oral health-related habits, and behaviors in relation to socio-economic factors among the municipal employees of Mysore city. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 4(2), 99–106. https://doi.org/10.4103/1755-6783.85761

Dagli, R. J., Tadakamadla, S., Dhanni, C., Duraiswamy, P., & Kulkarni, S. (2008). Self reported dental health attitude and behavior of dental students in India. Journal of Oral Science, 50(3), 267–272. https://doi.org/10.2334/josnusd.50.267

European Federation of Periodontology and the American Academy of Periodontology (EFP) Manifesto. (2013). Perio and General Health. European Federation of Periodontology.

Hoover, D. R., & Lefkowitz, W. (1965). Reduction of gingivitis by toothbrushing. The Journal of Periodontology, 36, 193–197. https://doi.org/10.1902/jop.1965.36.3.193

Hujoel, P. P., Cunha-Cruz, J., Loesche, W. J., & Robertson, P. B. (2005). Personal oral hygiene and chronic periodontitis: a systematic review. Periodontology 2000, 37, 29–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1600-0757.2004.03795.X

Loe, H., Theilade, E., & Jensen, S. . (1965). Experimental gingivitis in man. The Journal of Periodontology, 36, 177–187. https://doi.org/10.1902/JOP.1965.36.3.177

Mani, P., Swamy, R., Manjunath, G., Venkatesh, G., Venkateshappa, C., & Naveen, K. (2013). Attitude of Dental Students towards Their Oral Health Care Research Journal of Pharmaceutical , Biological and Chemical Sciences Attitude of Dental Students towards Their Oral Health Care. RJPBCS, 4(1), 755–759.

Mårtensson, C., Söderfeldt, B., Andersson, P., Halling, A., & Renvert, S. (2006). Factors behind change in knowledge after a mass media campaign targeting periodontitis. International Journal of Dental Hygiene, 4(1), 8–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1601-5037.2006.00158.X ,

Needleman, I., Garcia, R., Gkranias, N., Kirkwood, K. L., Kocher, T., Iorio, A. Di, Moreno, F., & Petrie, A. (2018). Mean annual attachment, bone level, and tooth loss: A systematic review. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 45(20), S112–S129. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpe.12943

Özyemişci-Cebeci, N., Ünver, S., & Nemli, S. (2014). A comparative study of oral health attitudes and behaviors in dental Students. Journal of Dental Applications, 1(1), 3–7.

Petersen, P. E., Bourgeois, D., Ogawa, H., Estupinan-Day, S., & Ndiaye, C. (2005). The global burden of oral diseases and risks to oral health. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 83(9), 661–669. https://doi.org//S0042-96862005000900011

Sharda, A. J., & Shetty, S. (2008). A comparative study of oral health knowledge, attitude and behaviour of first and final year dental students of Udaipur city, Rajasthan, India. Int J Dent Hygiene, 6, 347–353.

Taba, M., Kinney, J., Kim, A., & Giannobile, W. (2005). Diagnostic Biomarkers for Oral and Periodontal Diseases. Dent Clin North Am, 49(3), 551–557. https://doi.org/10.1038/jid.2014.371

Trévoux, M., & Angleraud, R. (1985). Chronic periodontitis. In M. Newman, H. Takei, P. Klokkevold, & F. Carranza (Eds.), Actualites odonto-stomatologiques (13th ed., Vol. 39, Issue 149, pp. 81–88). Elsevier - Health Sciences Division.

Yüzer Alsaç, S., Oztas, G., Demir Acar, M., Tuncay, B., & Batuhan Coskun, A. (2024). The Effect of Oral and Dental Health Status on the Self-Esteem Levels of Turkish University Youth. Iranian Journal of Pediatrics, 34(6). https://doi.org/10.5812/ijp-144530

• PDF

Copyright (c) 2025 Nadein A. Elsharif (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright of the articles Published by Almukhtar Journal of Science (MJSc) is retained by the author(s), who grant MJSc a license to publish the article. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors and cite MJSc as the original publisher. Also, they accept the article remains published by the MJSc website (except in the occasion of a retraction of the article).