The Influence of Educational Level and Income on Community's Dental and Oral Health Maintenance Behavior

Abstract

Awareness of the importance of dental and oral health maintenance among the community is still low due to a lack of education, which impacts their behavior, especially among those with lower socioeconomic status. They are more focused on meeting daily needs and thus tend to neglect dental and oral health, which is considered less important. Individuals with lower education levels also struggle to process information effectively, often misinterpreting the information they receive. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is an influence between income level and education level on the behavior of maintaining dental and oral health. The design of this study is descriptive analytic with a cross-sectional approach. The data collection method used is a survey method with questionnaires. Sampling was done using proportionate stratified random sampling. The sample consisted of 30 heads of families for the income variable and 30 heads of families for the education level variable. The study found that the higher the income and education of the respondents, the better their behavior in maintaining dental and oral health. It was found that the p-value for income and last education variables with respondent behavior is ≤α (α=0.05), meaning there is a significant relationship between income and last education on knowledge, attitudes, actions, dental and oral health