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Hindi Research Article
Awareness and Knowledge of Halitosis: Comparison of Two Grades of Dental Hygienist Students
Inoue E1, Yoneda M2*, Suzuki N3, Matsuo T4, Ishii A4, Haraga M5, Hirahashi K5, Morita H2, Koga C5, Inoue Y4, Yasukouchi H1 and Hirofuji T2
1Dental Hygienist Division, Fukuoka Dental College Medical and Dental Hospital, Japan
2Section of General Dentistry, Department of General Dentistry, Fukuoka Dental College, Japan
3Section of Oral Public Health, Department of Preventive and Public Health, Fukuoka Dental College, Japan
4Department of Dental Hygiene, Fukuoka College of Health Science, Japan
4Center for Oral Diseases, Fukuoka Dental College, Japan
- *Corresponding Author:
- Masahiro Yoneda
Department of General Dentistry
Fukuoka Dental College, Japan
Tel: +81-92-801-0411
E-mail: yoneda@college.fdcnet.ac.jp
Received Date: October 26, 2016; Accepted Date: November 22, 2016; Published Date: November 28, 2016
Citation: Inoue E, Yoneda M, Suzuki N, Matsuo T, Ishii A, et al. (2016) Awareness and Knowledge of Halitosis: Comparison of Two Grades of Dental Hygienist Students. J Oral Hyg Health 4: 211. doi:10.4172/2332-0702.1000211
Copyright: © 2016 Inoue E, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Many people worry about their breath odor, and the importance of halitosis treatment is increasing. Consequently, it is necessary for dental hygienists to obtain a basic knowledge of halitosis. To achieve this, we must improve the motivation of dental hygienist students to acquire such knowledge. To this end, we conducted a questionnaire survey to assess the awareness and knowledge of the problem among dental hygienist students and compared the results of the survey for students in the first and third grades.
The percentage of students who perceived the oral malodor of patients was higher in the third grade group. The third graders also placed a greater importance on the participation of dental hygienists in halitosis treatment. Most students in both grades believed that demand for halitosis treatment would increase, although there were students in the first grade that did not hold this view. A similar percentage of students in the two grades were willing to study halitosis, although some first grade students were not at all interested. Many more students in the third grade wanted to take part in halitosis treatment. Student knowledge of halitosis was approximately the same in both grades, but, surprisingly, the third graders gave some incorrect answers in this area.
From the results of this study, the third grade students appeared to have higher motivation to study halitosis treatment than the first graders. However, the upper grade students seemed to lack some knowledge, which may be due to the extended time since they had studied the topic at school. It is necessary for us to improve student motivation for studying halitosis and for maintaining their knowledge in order to better perform the treatment of halitosis after the students become dental hygienists.
