Knowledge and attitude toward oral and dental health among Zahedan's guidance school students

As need assessment is the first step for oral health promotion, the level of knowledge and attitude toward oral and dental health among Zahedan's junior school students was evaluated in this research. Methods & Materials: In this cross – sectional descriptive research, 800 students among junior school (431 boys & 369 girls) were chosen through cluster sampling method. Data was gathered through a self report questionnaire including gender, level of education, school type, parent occupation and level of their education, knowledge and attitude among students. The data were analyzed by SPSS (ver. 10) and chi – square statistics. Sixty percent of students had moderate level of knowledge and 29.6% had desired knowledge. 17.3% held positive attitude and 45% held a moderate attitude toward oral & dental health. Significant relationship was found between oral health knowledge and attitudes of parents with their educational level and occupation (P<0.001). There was also a significant relationship between student's educational level, school type, and gender with oral health knowledge (P<0.001). The girls and students of private schools and last year of junior high school had a better level of knowledge. 56.5% of students brushed at least twice daily and 18.8% used dental floss. 43% of students had not dental visit for the past 12 months. The most important source of oral and dental health information of 75% of students were dentists and parents, and there was a direct relationship between health habits (at least brushing twice a day & using dental floss) and visiting the dentist in the last year with the level of knowledge and attitudes. The level of knowledge of Zahedan's junior high school students about oral health was not enough which may be due to poor teacher's role in education of oral and dental health. Keywords: