Awareness of orthodontic patients about oral hygiene : a cross-sectional study

Abstract EN

Introduction: Maintaining excellent oral hygiene during orthodontic treatment is necessary to avoid the accumulation of plaque.

Plaque can cause damage to teeth and gingiva.

Aim: In the current study, we aim to evaluate the status of oral hygiene awareness in people wearing orthodontic appliances in the Qassim province, Saudi Arabia.

Settings and Design: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire based study.

Methods and Material: A sample of 200 orthodontic patients from the Qassim region, aged ≥16 years old were asked to fill out an online questionnaire.

The questionnaire has 5 main questions, all aiming to assess the oral hygiene status.

The data were saved as an Excel sheet.

Statistical Analysis Used: We used Excel to calculate the statistics of each question.

Results: The collected data showed that all patients brush their teeth during the course of orthodontic treatment.

Most of them used medium-type brushes.

The most used extraoral hygiene aid was dental floss.

Also, a high percentage of the participants (63.5%) used mouthwash during the course of their orthodontic treatment.

A high number of the participants (n=178, 89%) were advised by their dentists to not eat sticky foods.

Conclusion: The majority of patients were aware of oral hygiene methods and had a good oral hygiene practice throughout their orthodontic treatment, although not at an ideal ratio.