INTRODUCTION: Halitosis is production of offensive odour coming out from oral cavity which most people try to avoid. It also leads to anxiety and social embarrassment. The people having halitosis have compromised quality of life. Hence this study was planned to assess the self-perception, knowledge and awareness of halitosis among students of higher learning institutions of Chitwan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 280 students of higher secondary schools and colleges of Chitwan. The data collection was done from August 2021 to October 2021. A self-administered questionnaire was used. The results obtained were entered into Microsoft Excel 2019 and then transferred into Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16. Descriptive statistical analysis was done. The study was analysed using frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation. RESULTS: In this study, the mean age of the participants was 23.75 years. More than 90% of the participants belonged to 20-29 age group. Among the participants 44.3% reported of bad breath, while only 15.4% visited doctor and received treatment. Around 41.1% believed oral check-up as common diagnostic measures for halitosis and 40.4% had an opinion of consulting dentist for bad breath. The bad breath affected their social life behaviour, ended up friendship, stayed separate and away from friends and family. Around 64.5% were isolated from society. CONCLUSIONS: From our study we can conclude that halitosis is common problem in developing and developed nation. In the present study self-reported halitosis was present. The proper oral hygiene methods were lagging. Proper need of oral hygiene education and awareness campaign is therefore necessary.

Introduction: Even though, dentistry has developed a lot in present days, dental myths and misconceptions still exist which is also in a way creating hinderance in accepting the advanced curative, preventive treatments. The present study was aimed to assess the prevalent dental myths and misconceptions among the people of Chitwan, Nepal. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 250 residents of Chitwan, Nepal, from 15th July 2021 to 15th August 2021. A convenience sampling method was employed to collect the data from the residents of Chitwan. A self-administered questionnaire was used. The data was entered into Microsoft Excel Version 2019 and later transferred into Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) version 16 and analysed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage). Results: There were in total 250 residents of Chitwan who participated in the study. The mean age of participants was 52.51±10.23 years. Among the 250 participants 153 (61.2%) were females and 97 (38.8 were females). About 108 (43.2%) participants believed that dental pain can be reduced by visiting shaman, hermits and monks. While 146 (58.4%) agreed that extraction of upper teeth affects eye vision, 152 (60.8%) were positive towards association of wisdom tooth with human intelligence. About 66.8% believed that charcoal whitens the tooth. Conclusions: The present study concluded that dental myths are prevalent among the residents of Chitwan. These myths should be addressed by creating awareness programs from the community level.

Introduction: COVID-19 vaccination has begun in many countries in the world and in Nepal too. However, many doctors and dentists have been reported missing in the vaccination program. Moreover, many those vaccinated had reported with several adverse effects along with being tested COVID-19 positive. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and perception of medical doctors and dentists towards COVID-19 vaccination program in Bharatpur. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaire survey among Nepal medical council registered Doctors and Dentist in Bharatpur during July 15, 2021 to September 15, 2021. The collected data was entered into Statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 26, and analyzed using descriptive statistical tool (frequency, percentages). Results: The majority of the participants 160 (88.9%) were of age 25-30 years. Most of them 176 (97.8%) participants were vaccinated against COVID-19, among which 152 (84.4 %) received both the doses of vaccine. Majority of them 144 (77.8%) received AstraZeneca vaccine while 101 (56.1) experienced adverse symptoms. Among the participants, 121 (67.2%) participants replied that Covishield vaccine was developed on non-replicating vector platforms. Conclusions: Majority of the participants of the study had taken COVID-19 vaccine which shows the negative hesitancy towards this deadly virus and importance vaccine for themselves and their patients too. The medical doctors and dentists need to be updated with the COVID-19 vaccine information.