Self-reported oral hygiene practice and utilization of dental services by dental technology students in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Dental technology students are Dental surgery technicians under training, trained to assist patients maintain good oral health. Hence, their oral hygiene is expected to be optimal. OBJECTIVE: To determine the oral self-care practices and pattern of utilization of dental services among dental technology students. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study, consisting of 109 participants. The questionnaire had three sections. Section A had questions on sociodemographic, section B was on self-reported oral hygiene practices and section C was on pattern of dental service utilization. Statistical analysis was done using the SPSS version 20.0. RESULTS: The mean age was 23.66 years; age range was 18 – 42 years. There were 20 males and 89 females, 95.41% of the participants used toothbrushes and paste, while 4.59% used both chewing sticks and toothbrushes. 22% used horizontal/scrub method of toothbrushing, 10.1% used modified bass method, whereas 5.0% do not know which method of toothbrushing they use. 81.3% of the participants had visited the dentist previously for routine dental check-up while 10.71% visited for dental pain. CONCLUSION: The self-reported oral hygiene practice of the dental technology students is commendable, however, further education on the importance of scaling and polishing is advocated.