Self-assessment of oral hygiene in children aged 9‒14 years

BACKGROUND. Self-assessment of oral hygiene can be well-accomplished through questionnaires with questions that can logically check deliberately erroneous answers by the individual being questioned. METHODS. The standard questionnaires were distributed to children aged 9‒14 years to collect information on the personal level of oral hygiene, find the reasons for not receiving correct information from the individuals and not referring to a dentist for routine visits, and determine fears arising from previous visits and procedures. RESULTS. Deliberately chosen incorrect answers comprised 6.3% of cases. Dental hygiene was expressed in the correlation of the hemorrhage index and the presence of bacteria in 72.4% of cases. CONCLUSION. The dentist’s approach toward pediatric patients, especially young children, should encourage children to continue dental treatments and not postpone them due to pain and aggravated dental situations. The relatively small percentage of cases with high psychological stress during dental visits in this study was a positive aspect.