Awareness on Prevention of Common Oral Diseases among Non – Dental Undergraduate Students of University of Peradeniya.

In Sri Lankan context, dental caries, periodontal diseases and oral cancers are the common oral diseases with a higher prevalence. Objective of this study was to assess the awareness on prevention of common oral diseases among non-dental undergraduate students of University of Peradeniya. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 489 non-dental undergraduate students in University of Peradeniya. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data in the study. Awareness of the participants was categorized into three groups according to the scores they have obtained (≥75 – High Awareness, 74-50 – Moderate Awareness, ≤50 – Low Awareness). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 25 and 0.05 p value was considered as the level of significance. Out of 489 students, 243 (49.7%) were male and 246 (50.3%) were female. Majority of the participants (82.82 %) were having lower awareness on prevention of common oral diseases while only 0.2% had high awareness. Students from faculty of Medicine were having the highest awareness and students from faculty of Management were having the lowest awareness. Statistically significant difference was observed in awareness levels between the health related and non-health related faculties (p<0.01) This study reveals that the non-dental undergraduates of University of Peradeniya have a low awareness on prevention of common oral diseases. Thus, it is suggested to make measures to improve awareness on common oral diseases among the university students’ population which will be very effective in preventing oral diseases and building up a healthy population. Key words: Common oral diseases, Awareness on prevention, University undergraduates