Conocimientos y prácticas sobre halitosis en estudiantes de odontología de sexto a decimo semestre de la Universidad Santo Tomas en el año 2023-1

Abstract

Introduction: Halitosis, known as bad breath, is a condition in which a person emits an unpleasant odor from the oral cavity, present in the exhaled air, its etiology is multifactorial. Objective to evaluate the level of knowledge and practices about halitosis in students from the sixth to the tenth semester of the Faculty of Dentistry of the Santo Tomás University in the year 2023. Materials and methods: An analytical cross-sectional observational study was carried out using a verified questionnaire. by teachers, applied to 107 students from sixth to tenth semester through Google Forms. A descriptive analysis was carried out through absolute and relative frequencies, hypotheses of association were explored with Fisher's exact test. Results: The majority of participants were aged between 19 and 21 years in 38.3%, between 22 and 25 years in 59.8% and over 26 years in 1.9%, female in 70.1%. 39.3% belonged to housing stratum four, 33.6% were in the ninth semester. knowledge was regular 66.3%. On the other hand, in the practice section it was 54.2% good; Furthermore, an association between the practices variable and the sociodemographic variable housing stratum was evident, presenting a value of (p = 0.008), being between the (middle) stratum with good practices with 74.1%. Conclusions: Deficiencies in knowledge and practices related to halitosis were identified among dental students. This finding highlights the need to strengthen training on this topic so that future professionals are better prepared to offer timely treatments in the dental field.