Knowledge and Awareness about Cleft Lip and Palate among Undergraduate Dental Students in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: To assess knowledge and awareness about cleft lip and palate among undergraduate dental students in Benin City, Nigeria.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study carried out among undergraduate dental students in Benin City, Nigeria.

Methods: The study population consisted of twenty-four (24 ) final-year students, thirty (30) 500-level students and thirty (30) 400-level students giving a total population of 84. The study instrument was a 12-item self-administered questionnaire, which was pre-tested on ten clinical dental students two weeks before the commencement of the study. The research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Data was computed and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 software. Pvalues at <0.05 were set as significant.

Results: The minimum age of the study population was 20 years, and the maximum age was 35 years. The mean age was 24.61±2.796 years. Seventy (83.9 %) of the study population had knowledge and awareness of cleft lip and palate, while 14 (16.1 %) had no knowledge and awareness of the deformities. All the respondents 84 (100 %) knew that cleft lip and palate can be managed, hence, there was no relationship between level of education and knowledge and awareness of cleft lip and palate. The majority of the population 73 (87.1 %) agreed that children with cleft lip and palate deformities have problems with feeding, speech, and development of teeth.