Associations Between Oral Health Literacy and Oral Health Status Among Patients Attending Comprehensive Dental Clinic

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the association between oral health literacy (OHL), oral health status (OHS), and utilization of dental services among maintenance patients. Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional study. Participants were maintenance patients attending the Comprehensive Dental Clinic, Faculty of Dentistry, Chiang Mai University from January to April 2021. Information about the participant’s demographic details, including education, and income were collected using a questionnaire. The Decayed-Missing-Filled Teeth index (DMFT), Plaque Index (PI), and utilization of dental service were obtained from the electronic dental record. OHL was assessed using the Thai Version of Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (ThREALD-30). Data were analyzed using Spearman correlation and binary logistic regression. Results: A total of 130 participants were recruited for this study. The mean age of participants was 51.1 years. The mean ThREALD-30 score was 26.7±3.76. The OHL scores were significantly negatively correlated with DMFT (r=-0.356; p= 0.002), PI (r=-0.398; p<0.001), and utilization of dental services (r=-0.35, p<0.001). After adjusting for age, gender, education and income, OHL was significantly associated with DMFT (OR=1.36; p=0.001), and PI (OR=1.26; p=0.006). Conclusions: OHL was associated with OHS. Patients with high OHL had good OHS with regular annual dental examinations. An understanding of the OHL of patients is crucial for designing effective oral health education and creating intervention programs to promote oral health