Introduction: Dental caries and gum disease are a major public health problem and predominantly affecting children worldwide. Materials & Methods: A quantitative non- experimental descriptive study was conducted among 125 school children between 12-15 years from selected private schools in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples. A self-constructed and pre-tested online survey questionnaire was used to collect data. The association between demographic profiles of children with oral hygiene practice, knowledge and dental health status were analysed and interpreted by χ2 (Chi-square) test. The correlation was done by using Pearson correlation coefficient test (r). The IBM Statistics-20 was used for analysis and interpretations. The P-values < or equal to 0.05 (P≤0.05) was considered as statistically significant. Results: The assessment of the oral hygiene practices showed that 32% of them had excellent practice, 66.4% had good practice and 1.6% had poor oral hygiene practice. Assessment of knowledge on dental carries prevention showed that 52% of them had excellent knowledge, 29.6% had good knowledge, 16% had moderate knowledge and 2.4% had poor knowledge. Assessment of dental health status among the school children showed that 6.4% had excellent, 91.2% had good and 2.4% had poor dental health status respectively. The association scores shows that there is a significant association between the mothers’ education and oral hygiene practices among children (P<0.05). There is a significant association between fathers’ education and knowledge on dental caries prevention among children (P<0.001). There is a weak positive significant relationship between oral hygiene practices and dental health status of children(r-0.297). Conclusion: The researcher believes that oral hygiene practices and assessment of dental health of school children can help to improve dental health and prevent oral health problems that will benefit the children lifelong.

Introduction: Dental caries and gum disease are a major public health problem and predominantly affecting children worldwide. Materials & Methods: A quantitative non- experimental descriptive study was conducted among 125 school children between 12-15 years from selected private schools in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples. A self-constructed and pre-tested online survey questionnaire was used to collect data. The association between demographic profiles of children with oral hygiene practice, knowledge and dental health status were analysed and interpreted by χ2 (Chi-square) test. The correlation was done by using Pearson correlation coefficient test (r). The IBM Statistics-20 was used for analysis and interpretations. The P-values < or equal to 0.05 (P≤0.05) was considered as statistically significant. Results: The assessment of the oral hygiene practices showed that 32% of them had excellent practice, 66.4% had good practice and 1.6% had poor oral hygiene practice. Assessment of knowledge on dental carries prevention showed that 52% of them had excellent knowledge, 29.6% had good knowledge, 16% had moderate knowledge and 2.4% had poor knowledge. Assessment of dental health status among the school children showed that 6.4% had excellent, 91.2% had good and 2.4% had poor dental health status respectively. The association scores shows that there is a significant association between the mothers’ education and oral hygiene practices among children (P<0.05). There is a significant association between fathers’ education and knowledge on dental caries prevention among children (P<0.001). There is a weak positive significant relationship between oral hygiene practices and dental health status of children(r-0.297). Conclusion: The researcher believes that oral hygiene practices and assessment of dental health of school children can help to improve dental health and prevent oral health problems that will benefit the children lifelong.