Page 27 - nhms 2012 Putrajaya

Results W.P. PUTRAJAYA GSHS 2012

3.5 Hygiene (Including Oral Hygiene)

Introduction

Dental caries a\ect between 60-90% of children in developing countries and is the most prevalent oral
disease among children in several Asian and Latin American countries. In Africa, the incidence of
dental caries is expected to rise drastically in the near future due to increased sugar consumption
and inadequate _uoride exposure (42). In Malaysia, ^ndings from the recent epidemiological oral
health survey of schoolchildren in 2007 showed that 80.4% of 12 years schoolchildren and 89.4% of
16 years children have unhealthy periodontal conditions (25, 26). In addition to causing pain and
discomfort, poor oral health can a\ect children's ability to communicate and learn. More than 50
million school hours are lost annually because of oral health problems (43). In both developed and
developing countries, many children do not have access to water _uoridation or professional dental
care. Daily tooth cleaning or brushing with a _uoridated toothpaste can help prevent dental caries and
periodontal disease (44). Diarrhoeal diseases kill nearly 2 million children every year. Hygiene
education and the promotion of hand washing can reduce the number of diarrhoeal cases by 45%
(45). About 400 million school aged children are infected with worms worldwide. These parasites
consume nutrients from children they infect, cause abdominal pain and malfunction and can impair
learning by slowing cognitive development (46).

Findings

A high prevalence of students reported brushing their teeth at least twice daily [87.2% (95% CI: 85.38-
88.78)] with signi^cantly more females [91.1% (95% CI: 88.74-92.94)] than males [82.1% (95% CI: 79.44-
84.51)] reported this (Table 5.1.1). Overall, 66.7% (95% CI: 63.53-69.82) reported use of _uoridated
toothpaste and 27.8% (95% CI: 24.84-30.96) did not know whether their toothpaste contain _uoride
(Table 5.2). About 4.4% (95% CI: 3.42-5.68) had missed class or school due to a toothache in the past
12 months (Table 5.3). Only, 47.5% (95% CI: 44.18-50.91) reported that they had their last dental visit
in the past 12 months (Table 5.4). Overall, 13.2% (95% CI: 11.44-15.10) claimed that they had avoided
smiling or laughing due to the appearance of their teeth (Table 5.5). In the past 30 days, 1.8% (95%
CI: 1.21-2.67) of the students never or rarely wash their hands before eating (Table 5.6). About 2.9%
(95% CI: 2.20-3.95) reported never or rarely wash their hands after using the toilet (Table 5.7). A total
of 10.5% (95% CI: 9.21-11.88) never or rarely use soap when washing their hands, with a signi^cantly
higher prevalence among males [13.9% (95% CI: 11.92-16.12)] than females [7.9% (95% CI: 6.31-9.82)
(Table 5.8).

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