Evaluating the awareness and attitude of medical affiliated students of Shahid Sadoughi University of medical science toward effects of drugs and tobacco products on oral health in 2019-2020

In respect to this fact that drug and tobacco products use is detrimental to general health and oral health, medical affiliated students could have the vital role of in prevention of this habit. This survey, aims to assess the awareness and attitude of students of Shahid Sadoughi University of medical sciences toward effects of drug and tobacco products on oral health in academic year 2019-2020.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 283 students of university of medical sciences using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire composed of three parts: sociodemographic characteristics, 10 questions about awareness and 7 questions related to attitude, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS23 software and descriptive statistics and T-test and one-way ANOVA. The significance level was set as P < 0.05.

The mean score of awareness and attitude of students were 7.10 ± 1.07 and 23.33 ± 4.08, respectively. Score of awareness had a meaningful difference on the basis of age (P=0.01). The awareness of dental students was significantly higher rather than other students. (P=0.001).

The students' knowledge toward effects of drugs and tobacco products on oral health was in desirable level and their attitude was good.