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ORAL HYGIENE AWARENESS AND PRACTICE OF FIXED APPLIANCE PATIENTS IN
ORTHODONTIC UNIT, SEREMBAN DENTAL SPECIALIST CENTRE
NMRR-19-4017-48079

Ayob AKB, Amiruddin N

Objective: To evaluate the oral hygiene awareness of fixed appliance patients undergoing
treatment in Orthodontic Unit, Seremban Dental Specialist Centre. Materials and
Methods: A piloted self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 260 fixed appliance
patients who were randomly selected from our clinic. The questionnaire consisted of three
parts with 25 questions and brief answer choices. The first part addressed the respondent’s
sociodemographic characteristics and smoking status. The second part on general oral
health knowledge regarding fixed appliance treatment and the third part on oral healthcare
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practice. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. The Chi test was used to determine the
association between the variables (gender and knowledge), with a p-value of < 0.05
considered significant. Results: The mean age of participants was 19.33 ±3.26 and higher
in females (71.2%), Malays (52.7%) and non-smokers (94.6%). Most of the respondents
(62.3%) scored average marks (5-7) on oral hygiene knowledge. 32.3% scored “good” (8-
10) and 5.4% scored “poor” (0-4). As for oral hygiene practices, 76.5 % of respondents
scored average marks (5-8). 16.9% scored poor marks (0-4) and 6.5% scored good (9-10).
There was a significant association between gender and knowledge (p-value < 0.05).
Discussion: Most patients have an average knowledge of oral health and hygiene practices
and was statistically significantly higher among the female with p-value of 0.004.
Conclusion: Patients should be continuously educated on the oral health knowledge and
hygiene practices.

Dr Asiyah@Khairul Bariyyah binti Ayob
Dr Noraliza Amiruddin
Orthodontic Unit
Seremban Dental Specialist Centre
Seremban Negeri Sembilan Malaysia

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