Oral health affects the general health, well-being, education and development of an individual and their families and diminishes the quality of life. This study was intended to identify dental hygiene related knowledge and perceived practices among student nurses, to correlate between knowledge and perceived practices and associate knowledge and perceived practices with selected socio-demographic variables. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 80 student nurses studying in Indira College of Nursing, Thiruvallur who were selected for the study by using systematic cluster sampling techniques. Self-administered closed ended questionnaire was distributed to collect the data. This study revealed that vast majority of student nurses had an inadequate knowledge (77.50%) and only 6.25% had an adequate level of knowledge on dental hygiene. 31.25 % of participants had inadequate perceived practices, and only 30 % had adequate perceived practices towards dental hygiene. Significant positive correlation(r=0.63 at p<0.05) was found between knowledge and perceived practices on dental hygiene. Findings from this study can be used to strengthen nursing curriculum related to dental health.
