The Oral Hygiene Habits among Intermediate and Secondary Schools Students in Riyadh,

The aim of the study was to find out the prevalence and frequency of oral hygiene habits among intermediate and secondary school students in Riyadh. The study was carried out using a self-administered questionnaire. Seventeen hundred students responded with a response rate of85%. The age range of the students was 12-20 years (mean 15.39 and SD ± 2.08). The results showed that daily oral hygiene habit was prevalent among 19% male and 20% female students in intermediate school students. Toothbrush was most commonly used (63.7) by female students at seondary schools. Miswak was used by almost 24% secondary school male students. Toothpaste was commonly used by both groups of students. Once daily tooth brushing habit was prevalent among 42.6% male and 27.6% female students at intermediate school and 61.4% male and 26.8% female students at secondary school. Horizontal and unspecific tooth brushing technique was equally common among male secondary school students. Medium toothbrush type was common among both groups. Miswak was most commonly used by male students and majority of the miswak user students 58.5% to 63% used old miswak. Both group of students expressed the use of toothbrush due to better cleaning perception. It can be concluded that over all the oral hygiene practices among secondary schools students need to be improved. Female students have better oral hygiene practices as compared to male students at intermediate school but trend shifts to male student at secondary school level. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of oral hygiene habits, and comparison of oral health status among the studied population.