Oral Hygiene Practices, Knowledge, and Self-Reported Dental and Gingival Problems with Rural-Urban Disparities among Primary School children in Lilongwe, Malawi
Table 2
Oral hygiene practices among the primary schoolchildren by sociodemographic factors (in percentages).
Oral hygiene practices
All respondents (n = 409)
Gender
Residence
Age group (years)
Parents’ highest level of education
Male (n = 193)
Female (n = 216)
Urban (n = 209)
Rural (n = 200)
(11–12) (n = 172)
(13–14) (n = 237)
≤1o (n = 149)
≥2o (n = 260)
Q1. Care to your teeth? How?
Tooth brushing
91.4
90.7
92.1
95.7
87.0
93.6
89.9
85.2
95.0
Rinsing with water
10.3
10.4
10.2
3.3
17.5
9.9
10.5
18.1
5.8
Using finger
9.8
10.4
9.3
2.4
17.5
18.1
11.0
19.5
4.2
Not brushing
1.0
1.0
9.0
1.0
1.0
1.7
0.4
0.7
1.2
Q2. Tooth cleaning devices?
Plastic toothbrush
91.9
91.2
92.6
96.7
87.0
94.2
90.3
86.6
95.0
Chewing stick both plastic and chew stick
24.9
24.9
25.0
1.9
49.0
16.3
31.2
46.3
12.7
Cleaning with a finger
9.0
9.3
8.8
2.4
16.0
8.1
9.7
15.4
5.4
Just rinsing
14.2
11.9
16.2
2.4
26.5
11.0
16.5
29.5
5.4
Q3. Time to do tooth brushing?
Before breakfast
91.9
90.2
93.5
90.0
94.0
87.2
95.4
94.0
90.8
Meal-time
18.6
18.1
19.0
7.7
30.0
15.7
20.7
32.9
10.4
When going to bed
24.9
27.5
22.7
17.2
33.0
20.9
27.8
33.6
20.0
Q4. Tooth cleaning frequency?
Once/day
21.5
23.8
19.4
23.4
19.5
22.1
21.1
19.5
22.7
Twice/day
27.9
28.0
27.8
29.2
26.5
30.8
25.7
28.2
27.7
Three times/day
48.7
45.6
51.4
46.4
51.0
45.3
51.1
49.0
48.5
Once a week
2.0
2.1
1.9
1.4
2.5
2.3
1.7
2.7
1.5
Q5. Use of dentifrices-type?
Toothpaste
78.2
77.2
79.2
91.9
64.0
85.5
73.0
62.4
87.3
Salt
16.4
16.7
316.7
8.1
25.0
16.9
16.0
24.2
11.9
Ashes
21.0
21.2
20.8
3.3
39.5
18.6
22.8
36.2
12.3
Sand
8.3
8.3
8.3
1.9
15.0
5.8
10.1
15.4
4.2
Q6. Tongue cleaning? (yes)
70.2
66.3
73.6
84.7
55.0
77.9
64.6
55.0
78.8
≤1°: primary school education and below; ≥2°: secondary school education and above. Statistically significant differences between the categories: = , = , and = . No asterisk: statistically not significant (NS).
