IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences (IOSRJPBS) ISSN : 2278-3008 Volume 1, Issue 3 (July-August 2012), PP 44-48 www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 44 | Page Determinants Of Oral Hygiene Status Among Junior Secondary School Students In Ilorin West Local Government Area Of Nigeria Sa’adu Lateefat 1 , Musa O. I. 2 , Abu-Saeed Kamaldeen 3 , Abu-Saeed Muhammad Buhari 1 , Saka A.O. 4 1 Microbiology Department, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin. Nigeria 2 Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Ilorin. Nigeria. 3 Research Unit, Peace Standard Pharmaceuticals, Ilorin. Nigeria. 4 Paediatric and Child health, University of Ilorin. Nigeria. Abstract: Oral diseases are the most common form of chronic disease and are important public health problem because of their high prevalence, their Impact on individual and society, and expense of treatment. Toothache leads to school absenteeism, which is a ready indicator of children’s health. A study to assess the oral health practices of junior secondary school students would reveal how far the nation has gone in promoting oral health using the WHO common risk factor approach. This work is thus, aimed at assessing oral hygiene status of respondents and determining some of the factors responsible for this status. A total of 399 students were used for the study. Multi stage sampling technique was used in selecting participants for the study. A semi- structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The collected data was analysed using EPI- INFO 2007 software package. Oral examination was carried out by the dentist using the WHO Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S). Result showed that 72% of respondents had fair oral hygiene status while the remaining had good oral hygiene status. Some of the factors influencing the oral hygiene status include frequency of sweet consumption (p= 0.003), types of school respondents were attending (p= 0.000) and history of visit to the dentist (p= 0.000). Frequency of tooth brushing (p= 0.190) and history of past oral disease (p= 0.784) did not have any influence on the oral hygiene status of respondents. These determinants will further aid the educators on areas to teach students in order to encourage and enhance good oral hygiene amongst them. Keywords: Oral hygiene status, Oral diseases, Determinants, JSS students I. Introduction Oral health is defined as the standard of oral and related tissues which enables an individual to eat, speak and socialise without active disease, discomfort or embarrassment and which contributes to general well- being . [1] Oral diseases are the most common form of chronic disease and are important public health problem because of their high prevalence, their Impact on individual and society, and expense of treatment . [2] Oral disease, such as dental caries, periodontal disease, tooth loss, oral mucosal lesions, oropharyngeal cancers, necrotising ulcerative stomatitis, cancrum oris (noma) and orodental trauma, which are serious public-health problem, is due to poor oral hygiene. Its impact on individuals and communities in terms of pain and suffering, impairment of function and reduced quality of life, is considerable . [3] Dental caries is one of the commonest oral diseases in children, severe caries detracts from children’s quality of life: they experience pain, discomfort, disfigurement, acute and chronic infections, and sleeping and eating disruption as well as higher risk of hospitalization, high treatment costs and loss of school days with consequently diminished ability to learn . All of which can be prevented by good oral hygiene. [4] Tooth decay (dental caries) is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases, five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever. Toothache leads to school absenteeism, which is a ready indicator of children’s health, worldwide more than fifty one million (51,000,000) school hours are lost each year to dental- related illness [5]. Studies that involved children of other ages including 12 years of age in Nigeria gave caries prevalence of 13.9% and caries free level of 86.1%. However, this is significant because of the population size . [6]. Junior Secondary School pupils are children of ages 9- 15. This age is especially important, as it is generally the age at which children leave primary school, and thus in most countries, is the last age at which a reliable sample may be obtained easily through the school system. For this reason, it has been chosen as the global monitoring age for caries for international comparisons and monitoring of disease trends [7].