Background This study aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of dental caries, oral hygiene levels and assessment of the oral health knowledge and practices of nursing students at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre teaching hospital in Moshi, Tanzania.

Methods A cross-sectional survey was done on 217 student nurse population at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre Teaching Hospital in Moshi, Tanzania in 2014. Ethical approval was obtained from the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College Ethical Committee. A questionnaire probing on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and practices on selected oral health issues was administered to the students. Students were also examined for oral hygiene and dental caries using Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) and WHO 1997 recommended method respectively.

Results There were 214 (98.6%) respondents aged between 18 and 53 years (mean age was 27.2 SD ± 7.35 years). About 72% of the respondents were in the young age group (below 31 years), 63.1% were pursuing Diploma in Nursing while the rest were pursuing Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Although oral health knowledge of the respondents was generally poor, more students pursuing Bachelor of Science in Nursing had significant adequate oral health knowledge than those who were pursuing Diploma in Nursing (p = 0.05). Population Oral Hygiene Index- Simplified was 0.41 meaning good oral hygiene in the current population. Overall, caries prevalence was 40.2%. The mean population DMFT was 1.34 (SD ± 2.44). The decay component was 0.53 (SD ± 1.29), whereas the missing component was 0.67 (SD ±1.34) and filled component was 0.14 (SD ± 0.69). Significantly more students in the older age group had more missing and filled teeth than their counterparts in the young age group (p <0.05).

Conclusion Majority of the students in this population had good oral hygiene and a very low DMFT. There was poor basic oral health knowledge and poor recall visit to dental personnel. Curriculum development in these school programmes should strengthen or encompass comprehensive oral health education components. This will empower nursing professional with basic oral health knowledge and promotive oral health behaviors and hence to disseminate to the clients.