Demographic details of oral hygiene practice and dental service utilization of Medical Doctors in Port Harcourt

Maintenance of good oral hygiene practice is the key to having a good oral health and invariably, an improved quality of life. Consecutive consenting medical practitioners attending the 2019 National Medical Association Annual General Meeting were recruited for this study. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics Armonk New York). One hundred and fifty-six participants were recruited. Ninety-four (60.3%) were male and 62(39.7%) females. Age ranged between 23 and 72 years with a mean age of 41.6±11.18 years. Almost all participants cleaned their teeth with toothbrush and fluoridated toothpaste. More males, more consultants and more participants in the federal hospital brushed their teeth twice daily and used medium bristled toothbrushes. Equal number of males and females used dental floss and interdental brushes. More consultants than all other cadre of participants and more participants in the federal hospital used dental floss (p=0.02). More participants in the federal hospital visited the dentist in the past (p=0.05); however, more males and more consultants did not have time to visit. Twice the participants with six to ten years of practice compared to those with more than fifteen years of practice did not access dental service because they felt they had no dental problem (p=0.248).   The longer the year of medical practice, the better the oral hygiene practice. One out of every 5 participants regularly visit the dentists; a consultant will likely visit more regularly than other designated participants.