Use of dental floss: opinion of present and future oral health workers.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of the use of dental floss among all cadres of present and future dental health workers, in a Nigerian teaching hospital, and their opinion on the use of dental floss in the management of periodontal diseases.

Methodology: A 30-item questionnaire was used to elicit information on respondents’ demographics, their opinion about the use of dental floss in the management of periodontal diseases and their personal use of dental floss. It also elicited information on respondents’ practice of recommending dental floss to dental patients and how confident they are in their ability to properly demonstrate the use of dental floss to the patients. Bivariate analyses were used to assess whether the position of the oral health workers, their gender and their use of dental floss has a relationship with their knowledge, attitude and practices regarding the use dental floss.

Results: Only 17.4% of the study participants flossed daily. A few of the respondents (29.4%) felt that flossing should be done after tooth brushing while majority (51.4%) felt it can be done anytime. Majority of the study participants use dental floss but fewer participants recommend the use of dental floss to their patients (p = 0.001). Among the oral health workers who do not use dental floss, 98.9% knew that dental floss removes plaque from the interdental area, 64.3% thought that flossing polishes the tooth surface as it removes the dental plaque and debris (p = 0.039) and 85.7% reported that flossing massages the interdental areas (p = 0.039).

Conclusion: It can be concluded that majority of the present and future oral health workers studied believe in the effectiveness of the use of dental floss in the prevention of periodontal diseases and use dental floss occasionally but the oral health workers who recommend the use of dental floss to patients are fewer.