ORIGINAL ARTICLE ORAL HEALTH KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND SELF-PRACTICES OF PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS OF KARACHI, PAKISTAN Narendar Dawani 1 Nighat Nisar 2 Nazeer Khan 3 Shahbano Syed 4 Navara Tanweer 5 INTRODUCTION: lobally, schools reach over 1 billion children and serve as a valuable platform for oral health promotion of school children 1 . The school-going age is the most influential period of a child’s life and it is this period during which the children develop skills, beliefs and attitudes which they practice throughout their lives 2 . Hence, schools strongly influence children’s growth and welfare 3 . Oral health promotion and education can be taught as well as reinforced throughout the school period 2 . Children spend substantial period of their life at school in close proximity with their schoolteachers. Hence, it is easier for teachers to influence their diet and hygiene practices as they are at a developing stage. Schoolteachers can play an important role in influencing children to adopt healthy oral lifestyles as well as imparting awareness about the etiology and prevention of common oral ailments 4 . This can be a reality, if schoolteachers themselves practice healthy oral hygiene and lifestyle; have a thorough and in-depth knowledge about common oral diseases and their modes of prevention. Therefore, provision of oral health knowledge to the children by their teachers at the pre- school level can prove to be more fruitful compared to the primary or secondary level because it’s the time period during which the children begin to learn the basic oral MDS FCPS PhD MDS MDS OBJECTIVE: Globally, schools serve as a valuable platform for oral health promotion and preschool teachers can prove to be beneficial in disseminating oral health education among children as during this period children are most prone to dental caries. The study objective was to evaluate the oral health knowledge, attitude and self practices of the preschool teachers. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 112 pre-school teachers in Saddar town, Karachi. Two-stage cluster sampling was used to select the sample and the selected teachers were requested to fill the study questionnaire. Descriptive frequencies and One-way ANOVA was utilized for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Response rate was 86%. Seventy-seven percent schoolteachers had knowledge about dental caries and 71% knew that it is of bacterial origin. More than 55% schoolteachers correctly identified the risk factors commonly related to dental caries. Education level of teachers was significantly associated with their knowledge regarding dental caries. Ninety-nine percent used toothbrush and toothpaste for maintaining oral hygiene whereas only 16% visited a dentist routinely. CONCLUSION: Pre-school teachers possess satisfactory knowledge regarding dental caries and are actively involved in disseminating oral health education. However, they have poor understanding about importance of regular dental visits. KEYWORDS: pre-school teachers, oral health, knowledge, attitudes, dental caries, Pakistan How to cite this artcle: Dawani N, Nisar N, Khan N, Syed S, Tanweer N. Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude And Self-Practices Of Pre- School Teachers Of Karachi, Pakistan. J Pak Dent Assoc 2013;22(1):47-51. 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Community Dentistry, Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, DUHS, Rafiqui Shaheed Road, Karachi, Pakistan 2 Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Dow University of Health Sciences, Baba-E-Urdu Road, Saddar, Karachi, Pakistan 3 Professor, Department of Research, Dow University of Health Sciences, Baba-E-Urdu Road, Saddar, Karachi, Pakistan 4 Department of Community Dentistry, Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, DUHS, Rafiqui Shaheed Road, Karachi, Pakistan 5 Trainee, Department of Science of Dental Materials, Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, DUHS, Rafiqui Shaheed Road, Karachi, Pakistan Correspondence: <narendarz@yahoo.com> JPDA Vol. 22 No. 01 Jan-Mar 2013 47 G