1. ORAL HEALTH: PERCEPTION AND PRACTICESIN A RURAL COMMUNITY OF DOIWALA Dr. Seema Diwan, Department of Dental Sciences HIHT University

2. DOIWALA

4. Questionnaire

6. 2. “Did you have pain in your teeth or gums in the next 12 months?”

7. 3. “How many times you visited a dentist in the past 12 months?”

8. 4. “Do you wear a denture?”

9. Conclusion 1.Oral health perception in rural Community of Doiwala is very high inspite of their bad oral health status. 2. People do not give importance to oral cavity, hence they need oral health education.

10. II. Oral health practices 1. “How often do you brush your teeth?”

11. 2. “What do you use for brushing?”

12. 3. “How often do you eat sticky food like bread or bisquits?”

13. Conclusion 1. People are saying that they brush their oral cavity everyday with plastic tooth brush but oral health status does not confirm this finding. It shows that they are aware of brushing. (may be from media) Young population is consuming sticky food more than adults. So they need more education to keep better oral hygeine.

14. SUMMARY Rural population is having very high perception of oral health but oral health status is not good. Oral health education is necssary for whole population but young people require more attention.

15. Acknowledgement I want to thank Dr Sushil Bansal, Dr Vartika Saxena, Dr Deepak Goel, Anita Rawat, Pratap, Nursing and medical students for helping me in conducting and completing this study.

16. THANK YOU!