Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding orthodontic treatment among medical students of a teaching hospital Birgunj Nepal

Introduction: Malocclusion affects the overall lifestyle of individuals due to its psychological impact. It also disturbs the individual while eating, talking, and esthetics. Since medical students are the key health personnel to disseminate the correction information regarding orthodontic treatment but the evidence on the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding orthodontic treatment among them is lacking. Objective: To find out the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding orthodontic treatment among first, second and third year undergraduate medical students and to measure the relationship between knowledge, attitude and practice score among Medical students. Method: A descriptive cross sectional, questionnaire-based survey was carried out among 198 undergraduate medical students enrolled from first year to third year at selected medical college in Birgunj in Nepal. The data were collected using pretested self administered structured questionnaire. Both descriptive (frequency, percentage) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation test) were used to analyze data in SPSS vs25. Results: The study findings revealed that medical students had good knowledge about adverse effect of malalignment, positive attitude towards orthodontic treatment except retainer wear (35.9%). The response to practice of orthodontic treatment was encouraging for the orthodontist but majority (51.1%) of the respondents denied the extraction of the healthy teeth for orthodontic treatment. The findings also showed that there is significant relationship between knowledge and attitude score (p=0.001), knowledge and practice score (p=0.001) as well as attitude and practice score (p=0.015). Conclusion: The study findings reveal good knowledge about malalignment of teeth and its causes but had negative attitude towards retainer wear after completion of treatment. So, to improve the knowledge, develop positive attitude and enhance correct practice among undergraduate students, educational institution can play a vital role by considering the dissemination of correct knowledge regarding orthodontic treatment.