| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT
Background: Oral health is a fundamental component to general health, and is essential for individuals to enable them to communicate effectively, have a positive quality of life, and maintain self-esteem and social self-confidence as well as prevention of diseases. Periodontal diseases have increasingly become prevalent because of their high impact on individuals’ social and economic daily life.
According to the recent Global Burden of Disease Study, severe periodontitis is the 6th most prevalent disease worldwide with an overall prevalence of 11.2% and around 743 million people affected. The global burden of periodontal disease increased by 57.3% from 1990 to 2010 (Jin et al., 2016; Kassebaum et al., 2014; Marcenes et al., 2013; and Murray et al., 2012). Studies in Uganda shows that ANUG prevalence is at 41% and early-onset periodontitis is at 28.8%.
Aim: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practices towards periodontal diseases among adults between 18 - 70 years at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital.
Methodology: The study was conducted at the Mubende Regional Referral Hospital dental Clinic in Mubende district. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to conduct this facility-based study, with a sample size of 130 respondents. The primary sample subjects were randomly selected and were adults between 18 - 70 years who attended MRRH for dental health services at dental clinic.
Results: The study results revealed that Majority 38 (29.2%) of the participants were between18-25 years, 33 (25.4%) were 26-31 years, 16 (12.3%) were 32-37 years, 18 (13.8%) were 38-43 and 25 (19.3%) were above 43 years. Majority 77 (59.2%) of the participants were male and 53 (40.8%) were female. Most 60 (46.2%) of the respondents were married, 50 (38.5%) of the respondents were single, 9 (6.9%) were engaged 6 (4.6%) were divorced while 5 (3.8%) were widowed. 33 (25.4%) of the respondents had attained primary level of education; 46 (35.4%) secondary, 36 (27.7%) tertiary and 15 (11.5%) had not attained formal education.
57.7% (75) of the respondents had knowledge about periodontal diseases in the past six months. Most of the respondents’ had a negative attitude towards the preventive methods of periodontal diseases and also poor oral hygiene practices.
Conclusion: Knowledge about periodontal diseases and practices to prevent the diseases was generally slightly low due to the low level of education among the people which contributed to the highest level of ignorance about the risk factors, presentation of the disease and also the practices that can prevent periodontal diseases. Most teeth ended up being extracted instead of being conserved. There was also a negative attitude towards the conservation methods and their usefulness in preserving teeth and improving oral health and this is a hindrance to the routine uptake of dental health services. | en_US |
