Caries is one of the most frequent human diseases attacking all population and age groups. Awareness about the importance of oral hygiene in caries prevention and maintaining oral health is still not sufficiently developed. Oral hygiene is a crucially important component of dental health and human health in general. Poor oral hygiene leads to oral infections which may cause various diseases like cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, pneumonia, premature births, low birth weight, systemic infections and various other diseases. The aim of this paper is to deliberate on this issue and emphasise the need for systematic monitoring of oral health status in electronic form. Besides monitoring oral health status, emphasis should be given to the implementation of nursing professional practice model, which will enable the most adequate assessment of patient’s needs, and to the collection of data, which will enable further processing on a national level. Final objective is to educate the patient on the importance of oral hygiene and caries prevention. Nurses are in the position to play an important role in protecting oral health and prevention of oral diseases in the course of their work, as they are present at all levels of health protection. Hence the need arises for lasting education of nurses so as for them to acquire knowledge and skills to raise awareness of the individuals, families or communities on the importance of oral health and the importance of oral hygiene – for general health.