A comparative study of oral health attitude and behavior of dental and public health students in Ardabil, Iran using the Hiroshima University-Dental Behavioral Inventory

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the self-reported oral health attitude and behavior of undergraduate dental and public health students, in Ardabil city, Iran to analyze the differences based on the field of education, gender, and level of education. Materials and Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed on 195 (119 dental and 76 public health) students using Hiroshima University Dental-Behavioral Inventory (HU-DBI). Demographic questions including gender, educational field, and level of education were added to the questionnaire. The frequency of responses to the questions in the questionnaire was separately analyzed, tabulated, and reported. The effect of educational field and gender and level of education of students on their oral health attitude and behavior was analyzed using the chi-square test and Pearson correlation coefficient. The value of P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There were some differences in oral health behavior between dental and public health students. Public health students showed more frequent use of hard toothbrush (P = 0.05) and hard strokes (P = 0.02). Overall, there were no statistically significant differences between female and male students (P > 0.05). No change in attitude occurred by an increase in the level of education (P > 0.05). Conclusion: There were some differences in dental health attitude and behavior of dental and public health students.