Aim To assess and compare differences in oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behavior among preclinical and clinical dental students of Dental Institute, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. Material and methods A total of 175 students responded to a total of 37 questions regarding their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding dentistry and oral health. The mean percentage scores and standard deviation were calculated to assess the relation between knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Results It was observed that the students in the clinical phase had significantly better knowledge and attitude towards oral health than preclinical undergraduates. There was no significant difference in mean and SD among clinical and preclinical students in behavior while statistically significant differences were observed in their responses to questions related to knowledge (p = 0.000) and attitude (p = 0.007). Female students had better knowledge than male students (p = 0.029). Conclusion Clinical dental students of the institute showed a marginally higher KAP regarding oral health than preclinical students. This might reveal an ineffective transition of the students from the preclinical to the clinical stage. On intergender comparison, the females were better oriented than males towards oral health.
Keywords: attitude; behavior; dental students; knowledge; oral health.
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