Oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior of Neyshabour primary health care system personnel

Health care personnel are the first line of contact for public with the health care system and therefore, can have an important role in public's oral health promotion. The aim of this study was to evaluate oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior of Health Care centers personnel in Neyshabour, Iran. One hundred and thirty four health care personnel in Neyshabour participated in this cross sectional study. A researcher-led questionnaire was used to evaluate oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior of participants. Oral hygiene examination was carried out by a qualified dentist using simplified oral hygiene index. Then the association between knowledge, attitude and behavior of health care personnel with age, gender, occupation and education level were assessed by Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The results showed that 56% of participants had good knowledge, 80% reported positive attitude and 86% of personnel reported tooth brushing once daily. Average score for oral hygiene index was 1.26±1.66. Personnel with higher educational level had more knowledge (p = 0.007) and people with higher education and income had more positive attitude (p = 0.001 and 0.04, respectively). The oral hygiene index of people with higher education was better than others (p = 0.001). It seems that level of knowledge and behavior of studied Health Care employees regarding oral health needs improvement. Enhancement and continuation of oral health educational courses is mandatory.