Abstract

The effect of eating habits on the oral health of 200 students at University Junior High School was assessed using cross-sectional survey.

51.8% of the respondent perceived they have good oral health and 41.7% had never had any dental condition in the last 6 months. However, there was prevalence of 58.2% dental conditions among the respondents. 69.3% had no difficulty brushing the teeth and 56.8% had no difficulty in eating as a result of dental problem. As such, 77% of the respondents never visited the dentist in the past five years. The oral health practices among the respondents were good as 61.4% responded they brush their teeth at least twice a day. The participants generally had bad eating habits as 56.1%, 33.6% and 50%, respectively take fizzy drinks, eat sweets and biscuits with other pastries for more than 3 times in a week. 41.5% had a scores ≤ 15.0 on total eating habit indicating good eating habits and 52.0% had scores ≥16.0, indicating bad eating habits. This accounted for 58.2% having various dental conditions. Therefore, there is the need for an oral health promotion programme to increase awareness of good oral health practices and good eating/snacking habits among the students.