Assessment of the oral health behavior, knowledge and status among dental and medical undergraduate students: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundIt is widely accepted that oral health plays an important role in overall health. Both dental and medical students are expected to possess good oral health awareness and work together for public oral health promotion especially in developing countries like China. The aim of this study was to assess the oral health knowledge, behavior and status of dental and medical undergraduate students in the first (fresh) and third year (before specialized courses) study.MethodsA self-administered structured questionnaire with 13 questions was designed based on oral health knowledge, behavior and status and a cross-sectional study was conducted among the 1st, 3rd year dental students (1DS, 3DS) and medical students (1MS, 3MS) of Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, in the period of September–December 2017. The data was analyzed by chi-square test using IBM SPSS Statistics v. 21.0.ResultsThe oral health behavior, consciousness and status of the 1st, 3rd year medical and dental students were not optimistic. Dental freshmen were slightly superior to the medical ones in terms of the brushing methods and the awareness of oral disease-systemic disease relationship. The junior dental students showed highly significant improvement than their counterparts, mainly in the items about frequency of brushing teeth, brushing methods of vertical scrub or Bass technique (66.3%), usage of floss or mouth wash (49.7%), causes of caries, periodontal diseases and system diseases (56.9–83.4%). The rates mentioned above were 36.1, 15.8%, 26.7–43.6% among 3MS, respectively. In terms of oral health status, significant differences were only observed in junior students. The prevalence rates of bad breath, gum bleeding, and tooth discoloration among 3DS were obviously lower than those of 3MS. However, only a total of 17.2% junior students had a good oral health, including 23.8% dental students and 11.4% medical students.ConclusionsOur study provided a new understanding of oral health knowledge, behavior and status among dental and medical students, which may help to promote the reform of oral health education and establish a model for clinicians and dentists to work together for improving oral health.

Evaluation of Good Oral Practices among Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…All the students wanted to have clean teeth in university life. The findings of current study were in line with the finding a study conducted in China, where most of the students had proper knowledge and positive behavior about good oral health [14].…”

“…Various studies have been conducted to evaluate the knowledge of oral health and oral practices for adults and old people [12][13][14], but still, there is a lack in the literature to evaluate the knowledge and practices of university students. The university students are considered as the most educated people of the community.…”

<p>Oral Health Behaviors among Schoolchildren in Western Iran: Determinants and Inequality</p>

“…Goodarzi et al 12 found that 55.3%% of female students aged 10-12 years brushed at least twice per day, 22.4% used dental floss, and 23% reported a routine dental visit every 6 months. Prevalence of flossing or mouthwash use among dental students is 49.7% in China 18 and that of OHB among schoolchildren 26.7% in Cambodia. 19 The findings of the regression analysis indicated that sex, mother's education, socioeconomic status of households, and oral health literacy (ie, oral health of similar importance to that of rest of body) were the main factors affecting good OHB among schoolchildren.…”

Relationship between oral hygiene knowledge, source of oral hygiene knowledge and oral hygiene behavior in Japanese university students: A prospective cohort study

“…Muralidharan et al, reported that Indian students having oral hygiene knowledge of topical fluorides was significantly associated with good oral hygiene behavior [14]. Yao et al, reported that dental students in China had better oral hygiene behavior than medical students [15]. Márquez-Arrico et al, reported that use of dental floss was associated with good dental knowledge, however, frequency of tooth brushing did not present significant associations with levels of oral health knowledge in Spanish adult population [30].…”

“…In other countries, similar results have been reported [ 12 – 14 ]. Furthermore, it has been reported that students who had acquired dental knowledge during the university life improved their oral health status [ 15 ].…”