Oral hygiene habits among adolescents in Finland

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze oral hygiene habits among Finnish adolescents with regard to age, sex, residence, socioeconomic factors, school career and success. A representative sample of 3209 Finnish adolescents, 13-19 years of age, was drawn. The data were collected by mail surveys in February and September 1977. Participation percentages were 88 and 79. The proportions of daily brushers were 89% in girls and 57% in boys. Toothpicks were used sporadically by every second adolescent but daily by 3% only. Dental floss was used sporadically by 10% of the adolescents but daily by 1% only. In this respect girls were more assiduous than boys. Frequency of toothbrushing clearly increased with age. Girls brushed their teeth significantly more often than boys. The influence of socioeconomic factors was consistent in boys but almost nonexistent in girls. Children of white-collar workers reported better oral hygiene habits than children of blue-collar workers and farmers. Urban adolescents reported better habits than rural adolescents. School success correlated positively with toothbrushing frequency in the younger age groups. Dental health education given by a dentist, a teacher, a hygienist or a nurse had poor correlation with the oral hygiene habits of Finnish adolescents. It was concluded that dental health education should be more directed towards boys, especially at ages 13-15. The education should be planned so that the dental health education better reaches youth of rural areas and lower social classes.

Self-assessed dental health, oral health practices, and general health behaviors in Chinese urban adolescents

“…A European health survey of adolescents revealed that positive school experience is strongly associated with better self-rated general health and life satisfaction, few health complaints, and a low risk of smoking and alcohol use [21]. Moreover, school performance is consistently associated with oral health behavior, especially toothbrushing, consumption of soft drinks, and sweets [20,26,27], and the present study in China supports the European observations. The Chinese adolescents who performed well at school were relatively likely to have regular toothbrushing and dental visiting habits.…”

Oral Hygiene Habits of 11-year-old Schoolchildren in 22 European Countries and Canada in 1993/1994

“…School performance was also consistently associated with toothbrushing in all countries except Latvia and Belgium. This association has also been observed in earlier studies (Honkala et al, 1981;Traeen and Rise, 1990). Better school performance could, to some extent, predict better socio-economic status in the future and therefore may be considered as just another ods to affect the children of disadvantaged groups.…”

“…In this study, family economy was a subjective measure-the child's own perception of the family economy. However, it could be expected to measure family economy quite reliably, and several other epidemiological surveys have also shown the importance of socio-economic background for determining children's toothbrushing behavior (Honkala et al, 1981;Macgregor and Balding, 1987;Bedi et al, 1990;Addy et al, 1994). School performance was also consistently associated with toothbrushing in all countries except Latvia and Belgium.…”

Clinical investigation of oral findings in inherited disorders of platelet function

“…Koivusilta et al [22] and Honkala et al [23] reported that tooth brushing habits improved as the level of education increased. Although not statistically significant, there was a positive correlation between tooth brushing habits and level of education in the present study's patient group.…”