Dental health behaviour in relation to caries status among medical and dental undergraduate students of Udaipur district, India

Abstract

To compare the caries status and oral hygiene behaviour of dental and medical students and to assess the influence of oral hygiene behaviour on the caries status. A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour along with clinical examination to asses the caries status. A total of 403 dental and medical students enrolled with Rajasthan University of Health Sciences of Udaipur district, India were recruited in the study. 56.4% of dental students brushed their teeth twice daily compared to 38.5% of medical students. There was no significant difference between the mean decayed components of males and females of dental stream, whereas among medical subjects, males had a higher decayed score than females (P = 0.012). The mean behaviour score obtained by dental students (19.38) was greater than that of medical students (18.34). Moreover, medical students presented a higher decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) score (1.96) than dental students (1.16). Subjects who had a habit of brushing after every meal showed lower DMFT score (1.4) than those who brushed only once a day (1.64). Step-wise linear regression analysis revealed that course of education and final behaviour score were the best predictors for the DMFT status. This study revealed significant differences between the oral hygiene behaviour and caries status of dental and medical students; furthermore, caries status was significantly influenced by the oral hygiene behaviour.