Title

Assessment of knowledge, behavior and practices related to oral health and oral lesions among dental OPD patients in India

Authors

Vaibhava Raaj, Subhash Kumar, Qalbi Fatima, Pallavi Priya, Md Imran* & Abhishek Sinha

Affiliation

Department of Dentistry, Patna Medical College & Hospital, Patna, Bihar, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Vaibhava Raaj - E-mail: raajvaibhava@gmail.com

Subhash Kumar - E-mail: dr.subhash.mds@gmail.com
Qalbi Fatima - E-mail: qalbifatima@gmail.com
Pallavi Priya - E-mail: pallavipriya1905@gmail.com
Md Imran - E-mail: drimran100009@gmail.com
Abhishek Sinha - E-mail: drsinhaabhii@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received May 1, 2026; Revised May 31, 2026; Accepted May 31, 2026, Published May 31, 2026

Abstract

Poor oral health knowledge and practices contribute significantly to the high burden of oral diseases, particularly in developing regions. Therefore, it is of interest to assess knowledge, behavior and practices related to oral health and oral lesions among patients attending a dental outpatient department (OPD). Hence, a cross-sectional survey of 500 adults was conducted using a structured questionnaire along with clinical oral examination. Only 38.4% demonstrated adequate knowledge and 31.6% showed positive oral hygiene behaviors, while 23.8% presented with oral mucosal lesions significantly associated with tobacco use. Thus, we show the urgent need for targeted oral health education and tobacco cessation interventions to reduce disease burden.

Keywords

Oral knowledge, oral behavior, oral issues, tobacco consumption, oral survey

Citation

Raaj et al. Bioinformation 22(5): 2873-2879 (2026)

Edited by

Hiroj Bagde

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.