Abstract:
This paper aims at determining the oral health knowledge and oral hygiene practices among school
children in the study region. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among primary
school children in Kapsaret Educational division, Uasin-Gishu District, Kenya. A research administered
questionnaire was used to determine the oral health knowledge and practices in a random sample of
401 students in the period March to June, 2002. 92% of the students claimed they brushed their teeth,
about 48% brushed at least twice daily. More students (59.1%) reported using chewing stick compared
to those using commercial toothbrushes (p = 0.000). Female students brushed more frequently than
their male counterparts (p = 0.000,
2
= 24.65). 39.9% of the students knew the cause of tooth decay,
48.2% could state at least one method of prevention, while 16.5% knew the importance of teeth. Use of
toothpaste was reported by 38.9% of the students. Less than half of the students knew the causes of
tooth decay and how to prevent it. Only about half of the students brushed their teeth twice daily with
the chewing stick being more frequently used. Therefore, it was recommended that there is need to
increase the oral health knowledge through well planned school based oral health education
programmes in the primary schools. This would hopefully lead to improvement on the oral hygiene
practices.
