Knowledge of Risk Factors of Dental Caries among Secondary School Students in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State

Abstract

Dental caries is a complex chronic oral disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of risk factors of dental caries among secondary school students in Nsukka local government area, Enugu state. Three objectives, three corresponding research questions and two null hypotheses were posed to guide the study. The descriptive cross-sectional survey design was adopted for the study. The population for the study consisted of 3,039 students in public secondary schools in Nsukka Local Government Area.  Multi-stage sampling techniques were used to draw the sample of 384 Secondary School Students for the study. The instrument used for data collection was the researcher structured questionnaire titled knowledge of Risk factors of Dental caries questionnaire (KRDQ. Face validity of the instrument was established by three experts from the department of Human Kinetics and Health Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Percentages and frequencies were used to answer the research questions. The null hypotheses were tested using chi-square at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that the overall percentage of secondary school students with correct response on knowledge of risk factors of dental caries was 49.1%, it is low because it is below average.  The result showed that more percentage of female secondary school students (51.4%) had correct response on knowledge of risk factors of dental caries than male secondary school student (46.6%). Also, students aged 17-19 had the highest correct response on Knowledge of risk factors of dental caries. It was therefore recommended among others that intensive health education programme focusing more on knowledge of risk factors of dental caries and giving more attention on male students and younger students.