Knowledge of dental erosion and frequency of carbonated drink consumption among students of a Nigerian University

Abstract

Abstract Objective: To assess knowledge about dental erosion and determine frequency of consumption of carbonated drinks among a group of Nigerian medical and dental undergraduate students. Methods: A self administered questionnaire was used to collect information on demography, knowledge about dental erosion, and consumption of carbonated drinks from students. Students were chosen using stratified sampling method. Each level of study was taken as a stratum and students were then chosen from each stratum by systematic sampling. Results: A total of 387 questionnaires were returned. Less than a quarter (22.7%) of the respondents correctly describes what they understood to be dental erosion while 60.5% incorrectly answered that 'sugar is involved in the aetiology of erosion of teeth'. Dental students significantly had better knowledge of acid erosion than the medical students (p < 0.05). Many (42.4%) of the respondents drank carbonated drinks 2-4 times a week and frequency of consumption was not significantly affected by knowledge of dental erosion (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Knowledge of acid erosion was found to be low especially among the medical students indicating a need to include teaching about dental erosion in the general medical school curriculum. Consumption of carbonated drinks was common amongst the surveyed students.