[Oral hygiene habits and dental caries among students. Investigation of 150 students in university housing in Dakar, Senegal].

The objective of this study is to describe the oral hygiene habits and the status of the teeth decay of 150 senegalese students living in a university campus. The results showed that the toothbrush as mean of oral hygiene supplanted the traditional means such as "cure dents" or water rinse with finger. Results showed also a high rate decay (60%) but the CAO index remained low (2.04%). We founded an improvement of dental decay status with an increasing daily number of tooth brushing: we noted a decreasing dental plaque deposition rate, a decreasing decay rate and a CAO index remaining low until adult age.