Authors: Quratulain Ahsan , Rabia Asad , Fahad Dogar , Shamsa Mohiuddin Omar , Hanna Abdul Majeed , Fawad Hussain

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Globally, 1.1 billion people use tobacco for smoking and the use of nonsmokable tobacco products have also been increased over the couple of decades. This study was to assess the oral hygiene practices and choices of oral hygiene products among smokers and beetle nut chewers. This study also compares the oral hygiene practices among them.
Methods: A purposive sample of 389 subjects was recruited for this comparative cross-sectional study. Self-administered questionnaire including sociodemographic information, tobacco consumption, choice of oral hygiene practices and oral hygiene products was used. Descriptive statistics were calculated for comparison between non-smokers and smokers in terms of sociodemographic awareness regarding impact of smoking on oral health and Chi-square test was used to observe to compare oral hygiene practices among smokers, betel leaf chewers.
Results: The participants were consuming tobacco on daily basis and the unit consumption per day (Mean = 4.7, SD = 2.2) was also significantly high. Time spent on cleansing of teeth was sufficient (Mean = 1.5, SD = 0.7) but the brushing teeth at least two times a day was the only oral hygiene practice followed by meager (42.9%) but highest in number among the study participants. Use of oral hygiene products including toothbrush, miswak, dental floss and mouth wash were popular among the people. Oral hygiene practices were significantly different (P< 0.05) among smokers, betel leaf consumers.
Conclusion: Study concludes that oral hygiene practices among smokers are better than those who are betel leaf chewers. Moreover, most common use of oral hygiene products among people includes tooth-brush, miswak, dental floss and mouth wash

Keywords: Oral hygiene, Smokers, Areca, Tobacco use, Tobacco products.