Oral Health-Related Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours of Arab Dental Students: Multi-National Cross-Sectional Study and Literature Analysis 2000–2020

Abstract

Dental students are the future leaders of oral health in their respective communities; therefore, their oral health-related attitudes and behaviours are of practical value for primary disease prevention. The present study aimed to evaluate oral health-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of dental students in Arab countries and explore the potential sociodemographic predictors of their oral health outcomes. A multi-centre, cross-sectional study was conducted during the academic year 2019/2020 in three Arab countries: Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia. The study used a validated Arabic version of the Hiroshima University Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI) composed of original twenty items that assess the level of oral health-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours, and four additional dichotomous items related to tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, problematic internet use, and regular dental check-up. The HU-DBI score ranges between 0 and 12. A total of 1430 students took part in this study, out of which 60.8% were females, 57.8% were enrolled in clinical years, 24.5% were tobacco smokers, 7.2% were alcohol drinkers, and 87% reported internet addiction. The mean HU-DBI score was 6.31 ± 1.84, with Lebanon having the highest score (6.67 ± 1.83), followed by Syria (6.38 ± 1.83) and Tunisia (6.05 ± 1.83). Clinical students (6.78 ± 1.70) had higher HU-DBI scores than their preclinical peers (5.97 ± 1.86). The year-over-year analysis revealed that dental public health and preventive dentistry courses had significantly and positively impacted the undergraduate students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. The gender-based differences were not statistically significant, with a modest trend favouring males, especially oral health behaviours. Tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, and problematic internet use were associated with lower HU-DBI scores. In the Arab world, the economic rank of the country where the dental students live/study was weakly correlated with the students’ mean HU-DBI score.

Oral Health Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors (KAB) of German Dental Students: Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

“…Beside the original 20 dichotomous (agree/disagree) items of HU-DBI, the sociodemographic characteristics including gender, academic year, and university were included. Additional four dichotomous (agree/disagree) items were added inquiring about tobacco smoking “I consume tobacco at least once a week,” alcohol drinking “I drink alcohol at least once a week,” problematic internet use “I find myself using my smartphone/compute longer than I planned,” and regular dental check-up “I go to the dentist/ hygienist for regular check-up at least once a year” ( 54 ) ( Table 1 ).…”

Estonian Dental Students’ Oral Health-Related Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours (KAB): National Survey-Based Study

“…The present study used a self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) to collect data from the target participants. The SAQ comprised three basic categories, i) sociodemographic characteristics, which included gender and academic level, ii) original items of HU-DBI, which are twenty dichotomous items (agree/disagree) inquiring about oral health KAB, and iii) general health behaviours that included tobacco smoking "I consume tobacco at least once a week", alcohol drinking "I drink alcohol at least once a week", problematic internet use "I find myself using my smartphone/computer longer than I planned", and regular dental check-up "I go to the dentist/hygienist for a regular check-up at least once a year" [22]. (Appendix A).…”

Czech and Slovak Dental Students’ Oral Health-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviours (KAB): Multi-Country Cross-Sectional Study

“…The SAQ comprised three main categories: (i) demographic characteristics including gender, university, and academic level, (ii) the original HU-DBI items ( n = 20), and (iii) general health behaviours including tobacco smoking “I consume tobacco at least once a week”, alcohol drinking “I drink alcohol at least once a week”, problematic internet use “I find myself using my smartphone/compute longer than I planned”, and regular dental check-ups “I go to the dentist/ hygienist for a regular check-up at least once a year” [ 45 , 46 , 47 ] ( Appendix A ).…”