Aims: The aim of this study is to assess the utilization of available dental services and home dental care practices in a sample of nursing students and to seek out the correlation if any, between the Dental Neglect Scale (DNS) scores and severity of dental caries. Subjects and Methods: The study was conducted among 630 nursing students aged 18–21 years from the area of South Bangalore. The study was cross-sectional in design and a convenience sampling method was adopted to get the desired sample size. A prestructured questionnaire was administered to the students in their classrooms. Following this, a brief oral examination was conducted using mouth mirror and light for the detection of any visible carious lesions. Results: The dental attendance variable was found to be significantly associated with the DNS scores ( P < 0.001). The DNS scores were significantly higher ( P < 0.001) among those who had visible caries than those who do not. A very good correlation was obtained between scores of DNS and the caries severity ( P < 0.001, r = 0.773). Conclusions: The DNS can be a very good predictor of the dental attendance pattern as well as clinically assessed severity of carious lesions.

The research work undertook was “A study to explore the myths related to the care of neonates among mothers of Pallithottam area at Kollam”. The objective of the study was to: explore the myths related to the care of neonates among mothers of Pallithottam area at Kollam. A quantitative approach was used in the study. Convenient sampling was used. Sample taken were mothers who are taking care or have taken care of a neonate. Sample size was 100. The researcher collected the data using self-structured questionnaire. The tool was found to be reliable. Samples were given a checklist consisting of 30 myths related to the care of neonates and they were asked to give their opinion by putting tick mark in the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ option against each practice. The result of the study shows that 48.31% of the mothers have positive attitude towards the harmful practices, 70% have positive attitude towards useful practices, 96.4% have positive attitude towards inconsequential practices and 70.75% have belief towards practices of doubtful utility. The finding show that there are certain myths related to care of neonates still prevalent among mothers of Pallithottam area at Kollam. Based on the findings the investigators have drawn implication which were of vital concerns in the field of nursing practice, nursing administration and nursing education for future development.