An investigation on oral health and hygiene knowledge among 2000health system personnel of Yazd and Taft in

Hygiene training is considered as the first step in health care as well as the most important duty of the health system personnel who are responsible to offer the initial health principles in rural socities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of health system personnel on oral hygiene in Yazd and Taft in 2000. In this cross-sectional descriptive study, data were collected from 134 subjects (62 males and 72 females) through a questionnaire including 16 questions about tooth structure, primary dentition and principles of oral hygiene instruction. Results were analyzed using SPSS softwarez and t-test. In 58.5% of the subjects, the knowledge was good and in 29.6% the knowledge was fair, 11.9% had poor knowledge. t-test showed statistically significant relationship between knowledge and gender attributing more knowledge to females than males (P.V=0.002). Knowledge was declined by increasing age and ANOVA statishtical test showed significant differences. between variouse age groups(P.V= 0.0001).There were not any signiticant differences groups according to service record and training place although with increasing service record, knowledge has declined. Despite a lot of shortages, the knowledge level of Yazd health system personnel generally second to be good on oral health topics.