Assessment of oral health care practices and smokeless tobacco habit among adults in Odisha: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Tobacco chewing is an ancient habit dating back to more than 2000 years. Since then, it has spread with remarkable rapidity, seeping into all sections of the society. Aim: The study was carried out to compare the oral health care practices among the tobacco chewers and nonchewers and to record the tobacco chewing habit among the tobacco chewers of Khordha city, Odisha. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from March 2015 to August 2015, among 25–64 years old patients attending the dental out-patient department of Gopabandhu Khordha District Headquarter Hospital. The study sample of 512 subjects (256 tobacco chewers and 256 nonchewers), who were age and sex matched, were then interviewed regarding their oral hygiene practices and tobacco chewing habit using a closed-ended questionnaire, derived from the National Youth Tobacco Survey Questionnaire, 2012 and the WHO Oral Health Questionnaire for Adults, 2013. Data obtained were analyzed using Chi-square test. The significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05. Results: All the study subjects had people at home who had the habit of chewing some or the other form of tobacco. Most (73.4%) of the tobacco chewers felt that tobacco chewing probably makes young people look cool or fit in their peer group. Furthermore, 72.2% never saw a warning label on a smokeless tobacco product and 95.3% never had family or friends talk to them about not using any type of tobacco product. However, 87.1% were willing to quit this habit if proper guidance was provided. Conclusion: Tobacco chewing is a socially and culturally acceptable habit in Khordha city, Odisha. Awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco chewing among the users was very low, emphasizing the need to educate and promote awareness about smokeless tobacco products.