ORAL HEALTH LITERACY AMONG THE EMPLOYEES OF FACULTIES OF DENTISTRY AND ENGINEERING, ALEXANDRIA UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Introduction: Oral health literacy which is considered as the skills required for people to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate oral health decisions is an important determinant of oral health. Employees of the Faculty of Dentistry spend their working hours surrounded by dental educational environment which may affect their dental awareness level. Objectives: To assess the oral health literacy level of the employees of the Faculty of Dentistry (FOD) and to compare the results with those of employees of Faculty of Engineering (FOE), Alexandria University. Materials and Methods: The sample comprised of 386 employees who were proportionally allocated into 78 FOD employees and 308 FOE employees approached in the different administrative departments of both faculties. Oral health literacy level was assessed using the Oral Health Literacy Adult Questionnaire (OHL-AQ). Results: The mean oral health literacy score for Faculty of Dentistry employees was significantly higher than that of the Faculty of Engineering employees (11.49±3.00, 10.34±3.20, respectively). According to the regression model, females (p=0.002), older age group (p=0.01) and higher educational level (p=0.001) were the main predictors of higher OHL-AQ scores. Conclusions: Oral health literacy level of the FOD employees was higher than that of the FOE employees which points to the positive effect of the dental educational environment on OHL of FOD participants.