Introduction:

Excellent oral health is a gateway to overall health. Dental professionals hold a great responsibility to spread awareness about appropriate oral hygiene habits among the population, where self-awareness and practice are principal requisites.

Objectives:

Evaluation and assessment of practices of oral health, hygiene habits, health status, attitude, knowledge, and awareness among dental scholars and academicians in Bangalore City was the objective of the study.

Material and methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out amongst a total of 556 dental students, postgraduates, and teaching staff (academicians), who were selected randomly from different dental institutions of four zones of Bangalore City. Pre-validated, self-designed questionnaire with 25 questions on hygiene practices, attitude, and knowledge related to oral health was employed.

Results:

On inter-group comparisons, students exhibited the highest knowledge score with statistically significant difference (p < 0.007). Postgraduates and academicians showed better scores in terms of their practice of oral health, with statistically significant difference (p < 0.010). However, regarding attitude, the groups did not show any significant difference.

Conclusions:

As the education level increased, the attitude towards oral health also increased as well as practices improved in the interns, postgraduates, and teaching staff groups. However, more clinical studies are needed to determine the correlation between the intra-oral clinical status and self-reporting.