Cognitive level on oral hygiene and chronic gingivitis in children. “President Kennedy College”. Venezuela. 2006

Abstract

An observational, descriptive, transversal study was carried out with 75 9-years-old children studying at President Kennedy College, Community Julian Blanco, North Petare Parrish, Municipality of Sucre, Caracas Metropolitan District State, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, during the period from September to December 2006. The objective of our investigation was determining the cognitive level on oral hygiene and chronic gingivitis these children had. A closed six questions survey was applied to each of the students. The results of the study revealed that 69.3 % of the children asked about oral hygiene answered incorrectly the question about the frequency of brushing, 72 % answered incorrectly the question about the relation of brushing with the manifestation of chronic gingivitis; the male children had scarce knowledge on oral hygiene and gingivitis with 58.9 % and 61.5 % respectively in comparison with female, so we concluded that there was a predominance of an inadequate cognitive level on oral hygiene and chronic gingivitis in the questioned students (180).