Oral health knowledge, attitude and practices of primary school teachers in Lagos State

School teachers are known to exert considerable influence on their pupils and to an extent on the larger community. They have however been shown to have a disappointingly poor knowledge of oral health and disease. This study sought to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of primary school teachers in Lagos State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey was carried out on 100 primary school teachers drawn from 10 randomly-selected primary schools in Lagos State. The results revealed that majority of them have a poor attitude to oral health issues. The few of them who have attended a dental clinic mostly had extractions done. It was also found that there is a need for improved knowledge of oral health disease and their prevention among the teachers for an effective school based oral health education programme. The paper suggests ways in which this can be achieved.