Oral Health Attitudes Research Articles

Diabetic patient awareness and knowledge about the relationship between blood sugar level and oral health in the Qassim region: Survey based study

Abstract Introduction: People with uncontrolled diabetes are at significant risk of developing several oral health-related problems. Prevention and treatment of oral diseases in diabetic patients require persistent daily self-care at home and regular dental visits. Aim: The aim of this was to assess the level of knowledge and attitude of diabetic patients toward oral health in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, survey, and facility-based study was conducted at the Endocrine and Diabetic Center in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia. A simple random sampling technique was used and included male and female patients and excluding those with gestational diabetes. Each patient received a questionnaire containing four domains: sociodemographic data, oral health knowledge, general health knowledge, and oral health attitude. Results and Discussion: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) ran a detailed descriptive analysis. A sample size of 173 Saudi diabetic patients participated in this study (68 [39.3%] male and 105 [60.7%] female). Surprisingly, 75.7% did not know their diabetic type, 73.4% brush their teeth at least once daily, and 87.3% have never used interdental flossing. Just 38.2% knew diabetic patients were at a higher risk of developing oral disease. Furthermore, 19.7% have had their dentists educate them about the effect of diabetes on their oral health, and only 13.3% stated that their physicians had educated them about the relationship between diabetic status and oral health. It is paramount to ensure the role of dentists and physicians in educating patients, as most of the sample was unaware of the relationship between diabetes and oral health. Furthermore, interdental flossing is essential for dental home care and periodontium health. Most diabetic patients in this sample do not floss and must be educated about its importance. Conclusion: Integrated dental visits for diabetic patients, in coordination with their physician, may avoid further oral and general health complications.

Prevention of caries and obesity in children with immigrant background in Norway- a study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial

BackgroundImmigrants are known to experience greater socioeconomic stress and poorer well-being and to suffer more from lifestyle- and diet-related disorders than native populations. There is also evidence that children of immigrant parents are at greater risk of diverse health problems than their host country cohorts. The aim of this study is to apply and evaluate the efficacy of an early life intervention program among parents/children with immigrant background to prevent childhood caries and obesity, thereby improving the children’s general health, oral health, and quality of life.MethodsThis is a study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled intervention follow-up study. In phase I of the study, the primary care health centers in the municipality of Bergen, Norway were randomly allocated to intervention or control groups. The intervention was carried out using the motivational interviewing technique and the common risk factor approach. The intervention group received guidance on diet/oral hygiene and the control group received standard care information. Parental knowledge and children at age 3 and 5 years old will be assessed in a prospective phase II follow-up study compared to native Norwegian controls. The primary outcome will be evaluation of change on parental oral health related knowledge and attitudes. The secondary outcome will assess the impact of the intervention on children’s caries -, body mass index- and oral health related quality of life.DiscussionCollaboration between dental public health and primary health care personnel on the common risk approach motivational intervention offers opportunities to address key dietary behaviors that may prevent obesity and dental caries. Providing sustainable preventive measures decreases the burden of diseases and consequently reduces health inequalities, particularly among at-risk children.Trial RegistrationThe study is registered as a clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05758454: 7 March 2023). Ethical approval has already been granted by the Regional Ethical Committee (REK) (2015/ 27,639 /REK vest) and Sikt – Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (Reference number 778825).

Survey of Oral Hygiene Habits and Knowledge among School Children: a cross-sectional study from Italy.

This study is aimed to investigate the oral hygiene practice, knowledge and attitude of young adults, assessing their awareness about the impact of a certain "risk" behaviour on their oral and dental health. This is a cross-sectional survey study conducted on 829 students (350 males and 479 females, mean age 13-20 years) attending high school in Milan and surrounding areas. They were asked to complete anonymous questionnaire during the first semester of the 2019-2020 school year, under the supervision of a teacher and/or an assigned interviewer. The questionnaire was created by "Laboratorio Adolescenza", in collaboration with the International Alliance of Responsible Drinking (IARD) Research Institute and the University of Milan. All of the data was compiled into table or graph form and analysed. There is a general awareness among Italian school children about the risks of bad oral habits, however, there is a need to improve the oral health knowledge, attitude and practices in the target population with emphasis on improvement of oral hygiene practices.

Assessment of Self Reported Oral Health Attitudes and Behaviors of a Group of Dental Students using the Hiroshima University - Dental Behavioural Inventory in Turkey

Purpose: Dental students play a crucial role in promoting positive oral health attitudes and behaviors among their relatives and patients. Students' self reported oral health behaviors may tend to improve as they progress in their dental education. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the difference in self reported oral health behavior and attitudes of a group of Turkish first and final-year students using the Hiroshima University Dental Behavioural Inventory. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 237 students, including first and final-year, studying at XXX University Faculty of Dentistry, were invited. Of these, 187 students (108 first, 73 final-year) agreed to participate. Eleven students (7 first-year, 4 final-year) who did not fill out the questionnaire were excluded. The Hiroshima University Dental Behavioural Inventory was used to measure the behaviors and attitudes of the students regarding oral and dental health. Additionally, three items other than HU-DBI were added to the questionnaire. The analysis was conducted using the Chi-square test, and Independent t-test. Results: The responses of 178 students (107 first-year, 69 final-year; 122 female, 54 male) were analyzed. The self reported oral health behavior scores of the final-year students (6.21 ± 1.54) were statistically higher than the scores of the first-year students (5.03 ± 1.76) (p < 0.001). Although the score was slightly higher in females (5.57 ± 1.96) compared to males (5.33 ± 1.27), the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.334). Conclusions: According to the results of this study, education may have a significant positive effect on self reported oral health behavior and attitude of dental students. Based on the findings of university-based evaluations as this study, curricula that can gain positive attitudes to students and oral hygiene programs aimed at improving students' self-care should be developed from the early years. However, further studies that also evaluate the effect of possible confounding variables on oral health behavior should be done to clearly highlight the impact of education.

Evaluation of Self-Reported Oral Health Attitudes and Behavior of Dental Students in Antalya, Turkey.

Background Dental students are expected to play a critical role in the oral health education of society as future providers of dental care, and their attitudes on this subject have a possible impact on the awareness of patients regarding the importance of preventing oral diseases and improving oral health. This study aimed to evaluate the oral health attitudes and behavior of dental students. Methodology The Turkish version of the Hiroshima University Dental Behavior Inventory (HU-DBI) questionnaire regarding oral health attitudes and behaviors with an additional nine questions was distributed among 250 native Turkish-speaking dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry in Antalya, Turkey. The validity of the nine questions added to the original questionnaire was evaluated by expert opinion and a pretest method. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis, and the statistical significance level was set at p-values <0.05. Results The mean age of the 250 students in the study was 20.96 ± 1.66 years. In total, 157 (62.8%) students were preclinical (first, second, and third year) dentistry students, and 93 (37.2%) students were clinical (fourth and fifth year) dentistry students. The mean HU-DBI score of all students was 5.95 ± 1.65, and the mean HU-DBI score of clinical students (6.42 ± 1.65) was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than that of preclinical students (5.67 ± 1.59). The mean HU-DBI score of male and female students was 5.63 ± 1.55 and 6.24 ± 1.69, respectively, and this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The study showed significant improvement in the behavior and attitude regarding the oral health of the clinical dental students compared with the preclinical dental students. Conclusions Among dental students, clinical students and female students had generally better attitudes and behaviors about oral health self-care compared to preclinical students and male students, respectively.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Parents toward (Infant &amp; Child) Oral Health in Family Medicine Center at PSMMC, Riyadh

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the infant/child oral health (IOH) related knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of parents in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 327 parents. Visiting the family medicine center at prince sultan military medical city, Riyadh Saudi Arabia. A 39-item questionnaire covering sociodemographic characteristics and questions pertaining to KAP regarding OH care will used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics, Student's t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Scheffe’s test will use for the statistical analysis (P ≤ 0.05). Results: The result showed that majority of the parents had good knowledge regarding OH, knowledge of cleaning (92.4%) and knowledge of amount of sugar (88.1%). The parents of age group (30 to 39) years (n=147) reported the highest mean (knowledge, attitudes, and practice) scores among all other age groups with a knowledge mean score of (6.80± 1.73), an attitude mean score of (8.86±1.37), and a practice mean score of (5.14± 1.86). Female parents showed a significantly higher mean knowledge, attitude and practices scores than the male parents. In addition, middle income level parents’ group (n=295) reported higher knowledge mean score compared to low-income parents’ group (n=15) with mean difference d=1.15, p=.041. Conclusion: Parents knowledge about maintaining oral and dental health care for infant/child was inadequate. Essentially, medical professionals are the initial ones to interact with expecting and new moms. Therefore, need to raise parents’ awareness about oral and dental health for infants/ child, through develop and implementation long-term education and promotions programs.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Parents toward (Infant &amp; Child) Oral Health in Family Medicine Center at PSMMC, Riyadh

Background: Early childhood caries may develop as soon as teeth erupt. Promoting oral health care programs is very important and helps to reduce dental caries in young children. The aim of this study was to assess the infant/child oral health (IOH) related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of parents in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 327 parents. Visiting the family medicine center at prince sultan military medical city, Riyadh Saudi Arabia. A 39-item questionnaire covering socio-demographic characteristics and questions pertaining to KAP regarding OH care will be used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics, Student’s t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Scheffe’s test will use for the statistical analysis (p ≤ 0.05). Results: The result showed that the majority of the parents had good knowledge regarding OH, knowledge of cleaning (92.4.%), and knowledge of the amount of sugar (88.1.%). the parent’s age group (30 to 39) years (n =147) reported the highest mean (knowledge, attitudes, and practice) scores among all other age groups with a knowledge mean score of (6.80 ± 1.73), an attitude mean score of (8.86 ± 1.37), and a practice mean score of (5.14 ± 1.86). Female parents showed significantly higher mean knowledge, attitude, and practice scores than male parents. In addition, the middle-income level parents’ group (n = 295) reported higher knowledge mean score compared to the low-income parents’ group (n = 15) with a mean difference of d = 1.15, p = .041. Conclusion: Parents’ knowledge about maintaining oral and dental health care for infants/children was inadequate. Essentially, medical professionals are the initial ones to interact with expecting and new moms. Therefore, need to raise parents’ awareness about oral and dental health for infants/children, through the development and implementation of long-term education and promotions programs.

Comparative Assessment of Oral Health Attitudes and Behaviors of First-Time and Previous Dental Patients UndergoingExodontia Treatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Private Dental Clinics in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia.

The COVID-19 lockdown affected oral health behaviors. This study aims to assess and compare the oral health attitudes and behaviors of first-time and previous patients undergoing dental extractions during the COVID-19 pandemic at private dental clinics in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study was conducted among patients aged 18-65 years undergoing dental extractions at private dental clinics in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. Four hundred and eighty patients were selected using a convenient sampling methodology. A structured, close-ended questionnaire investigated demographic information, tooth extraction attendance, and oral health attitudes and behaviors using 20 items Hiroshima University Dental Behavioral Inventory (HUDBI). A total of 480 exodontia patients [282 (58.8%) males and 198 (41.2%) females] participated in this study. All patients used a stiff-bristled toothbrush and wereconcerned about their teeth' color and bad breath. Similarly, all the participants did not feel brushed unless they used strong strokes, and the dentist told them to brush very well. An overall mean HUDBI score of 6.34±1.12 was observed. Patients with a primary education (5.61±0.79), income ≤5000 SAR (6.00±0.92), residing in rural areas (5.84±0.93), and government employees (5.62±0.96) exhibited lower HU-DBI scores compared to their counterparts. The study revealed a significant variation in HUDBI scores across different demographic factors, including education, income, residence, occupation, and reason for extraction (p<0.001). The HUDBI score of first-time attendees to dental extraction (5.88±1.03) was found to be significantly poorer than to those of previous attendees (6.63±1.09), (p<0.001). Patients who underwent dental extractions at private dental clinics in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, during the post-lockdown COVID-19 pandemic exhibited average oral health attitudes and behaviors. Oral health attitudes and behaviorsdiffered by socioeconomic status. Patients undergoing dental extractions for reasons other than dental caries and periodontal diseases and first-time attendees demonstrated poor oral health attitudes and behaviors.

Social support, oral health knowledge, attitudes, practice, self-efficacy and oral health-related quality of life in Chinese college students

Oral health is crucial for health-related quality of life. However, the research on the factors affecting oral health status is not comprehensive enough. This investigation aimed to evaluate the multifaceted determinants of college students’ oral health status and explore the impact of social support, oral health literacy, attitudes, behaviors, and self-efficacy on OHRQoL. By surveying 822 students from a university. Baseline data included sociodemographics (gender, age), social support (MSPSS scale), oral health self-efficacy (SESS scale), oral health knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP questionnaire), and OHRQoL (OHIP-14 scale). Based on social cognitive theory, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were used to examine the relationship between the study variables. PLS-SEM results showed that knowledge, attitude, and practice predicted OHRQoL through self-efficacy. FsQCA results showed that the combination of different variables was sufficient to explain OHRQoL. The conclusion was that self-efficacy plays an important role and the combination of high-level knowledge, positive attitudes, and strong self-efficacy was important in improving OHRQoL. The results of this study provided a reference for the oral health strategy planning of college students in China.

Oral health literacy, knowledge and perceptions in a socially and culturally diverse population: a mixed methods study

BackgroundPoor oral health literacy has been proposed as a causal factor in disparities in oral health outcomes. This study aims to investigate oral health literacy (OHL) in a socially and culturally diverse population of Australian adults visiting a public dental clinic in Western Sydney.MethodsA mixed methods study where oral health literacy was assessed using the Health Literacy in Dentistry scale (HeLD-14) questionnaire and semi-structured interviews explored oral health related knowledge, perceptions and attitudes. Interviews were analysed using a thematic approach.ResultsA sample of 48 participants attending a public dental clinic in Western Sydney was recruited, with a mean age of 59.9 (SD16.2) years, 48% female, 50% born in Australia, 45% with high school or lower education, and 56% with low-medium OHL. A subgroup of 21 participants with a mean age of 68.1 (SD14.6) years, 40% female, 64% born in Australia, 56% with a high school or lower education, and 45% with low-medium OHL completed the interview. Three themes identified from the interviews included 1) attitudes and perceptions about oral health that highlighted a lack of agency and low prioritisation of oral health, 2) limited knowledge and education about the causes and consequences of poor oral health, including limited access to oral health education and finally 3) barriers and enablers to maintaining good oral health, with financial barriers being the main contributor to low OHL.ConclusionsStrategies aimed at redressing disparities in oral health status should include improving access to oral health information. The focus should be on the impact poor oral health has on general health with clear messages about prevention and treatment options in order to empower individuals to better manage their oral health.

Comparative Analysis of Oral Health Attitudes and Practices among Health Care and Non - Health Care Students: An Online Survey Study

Comparative Analysis of Oral Health Attitudes and Practices among Health Care and Non - Health Care Students: An Online Survey Study

Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Government Primary School Teachers in Faridabad City Regarding Oral Health.

Schoolteachers have a massive capacity for shaping the oral health status of children. Teachers help in behavioral shaping and the total progress of schoolchildren. They are thought to apply a substantial impact on their students. Overall health-promoting school seeks workforce well-being as well as their working conditions and thus employ the tactics of health promotion in the workplace. To assess the existing knowledge, attitude, and practices of government primary school teachers in Faridabad city regarding oral health. The study was conducted on 220 government primary school teachers in Faridabad city. The questionnaires were distributed individually to the teachers on the visit to their institution. The data was compiled and subjected to statistical analysis. The study was evaluated in various groups like age, gender, educational qualification, and teaching experience. Oral health education was given to the teachers and mentioned the importance of regular dental check-ups in children. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21. The findings of this study indicated that oral health knowledge was good but oral health attitudes and practices were moderate among government primary school teachers in Faridabad city. The study determined that there is a need to improve the oral well-being information and habits of the primary school teachers so that they can deliver proper oral health instructions to the students. Cyriac A, Sood S, Sharma N, et al. Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Government Primary School Teachers in Faridabad City Regarding Oral Health. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2023;16(3):426-430.

Assessment of oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices among school teachers training visually impaired children

ABSTRACT Background: Visual impairment is a significant disability that affects a sizable section of the population worldwide. Children with sensory deficiencies are more likely to experience oral health neglect and challenges to receiving proper dental treatment. There is a major lack of information about the state of oral health and the treatments that are needed for this population in a growing nation like India. It is crucial to raise schoolchildren’s awareness of oral health issues. The dissemination of information on the causes and prevention of common oral disorders can be greatly aided by school instructors. A school-based program is most successful because it targets kids as they develop good health behaviors. Objective: The objectives were to determine the knowledge of school teachers training visually impaired children about the causes and prevention of dental caries and gingival diseases and to know about their interest and willingness to participate in oral health education programs. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 12 close-ended questions on oral health knowledge and practices was formulated and distributed among 100 school teachers in a blind school in Noida, India. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using Microsoft Excel. Results: The school had limited knowledge on oral health. Out of the total number of teachers interviewed, only 50% were aware of what does gum bleeding means and only 40% were aware that the health of the mouth and dentition impact the health of the body. Conclusion: Overall, school teachers have inadequate oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. It is imperative to improve school teachers’ attitudes and understanding about oral health, including their awareness of different oral cavity issues and strategies for preventing dental disorders.

ORAL HEALTH KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE AMONG MBBS STUDENTS OF GOVT MEDICAL COLLEGE, KOZHIKODE: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Oral health plays an important role in the overall health of the body. Most of the patients with pain in the oro-facial region make their first make their first contact with a general medical practitioner. Medical professionals receive very little training in addressing oral health issues during their educational programs or elsewhere thus they display low levels of oral health knowledge and low levels of confidence in its applications.Thisstudy was carried out to assess the oral health knowledge, attitude and practice among medical undergraduate students of Govt Medical College, Kozhikode.

Self-reported bleeding gums and oral hygiene habitsin rural areas of Peshawar

More than half of Pakistan’s population resides in rural areas with lower average incomes than urban areas. Oral health issues are more prevalent in populations with lower economic status and are more prone to have periodontal problems. A cross-sectional study of the adult population of rural area chosen from among those present at the time of data collection. Sampling Technique was non-probability. A self-administered interview-based questionnaire concerning oral health behavior and attitudes. 56% of the participants reported bleeding from their gums, 51.6% had perceived halitosis and a majority, 78%, indicated that their teeth needed cleaning. Regarding the frequency of brushing, the majority (41.2%) cleaned their teeth once daily. The majority (36%) used Miswak followed by Soft Brushes (32%) as their preferred cleaning tool. 38% of the participating populous used their brush till it became useless 38%.The association of bleeding from gums with Type of brush, perceived halitosis and how often the participants changed their brush was found to be statistically significant. An association between halitosis and how a brush was changed was found to be statistically significant. The people of Pishtakhara Bala had a poor oral health status and while a part of the population practices oral hygiene maintenance, more than half of the population had bleeding gums and halitosis.

Assessment of oral health knowledge, literacy, and attitude among schoolteachers towards oral health - A cross-sectional study

BackgroundTo accomplish the purpose of health education and health promotion programs, schools are the most effective place for delivering health information to children. The main purpose of our research was to inform, gather evidence and contribute to developing knowledge regarding the OHL, knowledge, and attitude among school teachers towards oral health in Najran region of Saudi Arabia.MethodsA questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Najran region of Saudi Arabia for 6 months. A stratified cluster random sampling of 252 teachers was taken to represent all the teachers of Najran region of Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire contains 2 parts, sociodemographic part that include age, gender, education, teaching level, and income of the participants. The second part contains 25 items that assess the OHL (HelD-14 questions), knowledge (6 questions), and attitude (5 questions) of the participants. SPSS software version 26 was used to enter and analyze the data (IBM SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA software version 26.0). Multiple Logistic regression was applied to check the relationship between OHL and the associated factors. The Chi-square test was applied to evaluate knowledge of study participants. The level of significance was set up at p < 0.05.ResultsA total of 252 school teachers with a Mean age of school teachers 32.25 ± 8.46 participated in the study. The multiple logistic regression model shows the association between age, education, and OHL level of school teachers. After adjustment for sociodemographic factors age (OR = 0.219, 95% CI: 0.058–0.834), education (OR = 9.053, 95% CI: 1.135–72,023) were significantly associated with OHL of school teachers. Female participants showed better performance with respect to all the knowledge questions, a significantly higher level of knowledge (p-value < 0.05) was reported with all the questions except the second question (dental plaques causes). 94.8% of teachers agreed that children’s teeth should be checked by a dentist on a regular basis, while 96.8% agreed that dental health education should be included in the primary school curriculum and that all teachers should receive dental health education training.ConclusionOverall, school teachers have high oral health literacy, adequate knowledge, and a positive attitude toward oral health. The female teachers had more knowledge about dentistry than their male counterparts.

Evaluation of Gingival Bleeding Awareness Among Dental Students at University of Tripoli

Background and objectives. Bleeding of the gingiva is considered as an early sign of gingival inflammation and periodontal destruction. Bleeding on probing is used by clinicians to measure the prevalence and progression of periodontal disease, evaluate treatment outcome, and motivate patients to perform regular professional home care. The aims of this study were to assess self-experience gingival bleeding and to determine the oral health attitude and behavior among Libyan dental students. Methods. About 230 undergraduate dental students were given a questionnaire administered by three investigators after taking verbal consent. The answers of the filled questionnaires have been collected within 30 days and analyzed through SPSS version 25. Results. A total of 220 students answered the questionnaire and the frequency of gingival bleeding during tooth brushing were (55.0%) of students rarely experience gingival bleeding, twenty-nine participants (13.2%) frequently practiced gingival bleeding, and nearly one third (70, 31.8%) of students conveyed no bleeding. More than 72% of the students answered that smoking might increase gingival bleeding. Regarding mechanical stimuli, tooth brushing was considered by 77.7% of students as the main cause of gingival bleeding. Along with 18.7% have bleeding while eating hard food. Furthermore, only 3.6% of the study sample have early morning gingival bleeding. After bleeding, 33.2% of students visited the dentist whereas 23.6% of students stopped tooth brushing. Conclusions. Knowledge and awareness concerning cause of gingival bleeding is still poor among Libyan dental students. Furthermore, many responses of these students were inappropriate or not optimal regarding the management of the gingival bleeding. Therefore, more dental health education is needed to improve oral health and prevent periodontal disease.

The effectiveness of motivational interviewing on the oral health of leukemic children and oral health care knowledge, attitude and practice of their mothers: a hospital-based intervention

BackgroundSome studies suggest a higher effectiveness of motivational interviewing compared to common oral health instruction in healthy individuals. As regards to higher prevalence of dental diseases like early childhood caries, oral mucositis, and gingivitis are reported for leukemic children, the present study aims to compare the effectiveness of educating mothers through MI with the common instruction (CI) for the oral health of children with leukemia under six years old.MethodThis quasi-experimental study was designed in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, School of Dentistry and conducted on 61 mothers with leukemic children under age six hospitalized in Mahak Hospital and Rehabilitation Complex which is a Pediatric Cancer Research and Hospital Center, in 2021. Mother and child pairs were allocated to MI or CI (using pamphlets) groups. Data was collected using a questionnaire of mothers’ knowledge, attitude, motivation, and practice concerning oral health care in leukemic children. The children underwent clinical examination to assess plaque index before and three months after the intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 25 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) by ANCOVA test.ResultsThe preschoolers mean ages were 4.23 ± 1.41 and 4.32 ± 1.33 (ranged from 2 to 6 years old) in the MI and CI group, respectively. There were 16 girls (53.3%) and 14 boys (46.7%) in the MI group, and 15 girls (48.4%) and 16 boys (51.6%) in the CI group. Significant differences were observed in the amount of plaque index between the MI group and the CI group (0.20 ± 0.04, p-value < 0.001). A significant increase was observed in the mean of changes in scores of knowledge, attitude, motivation, mother’s practice concerning child’s oral health, mother’s practice concerning personal oral health in the MI group (p-value < 0.001).ConclusionsConsidering that instruction using MI showed to be effective in improving oral health adherence in mothers and reducing plaque in children with Leukemia, it may be recommended as a promising method to promote the oral health of such susceptible children in places that they are constantly present for treatment.Trial registrationThe study was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) on 11.03.2021 (code: IRCT20131102015238N5).

Evaluation of Oral Hygiene Practices, Oral Health Status and Behaviours among Dental Students at Qassim University

Objectives: current study was carried out to evaluate the pattern and differences concerning oral health attitudes and behavior pattern between students studying in pre-clinics with higher class dental students in clinics at Qassim University. Method: A cross-sectional study through survey in Qassim University dental clinics in 2020-2021, among dental students, All the 100 participants undergone a self-administered questionnaire survey followed by a dental checkup to access the dental health and oral hygiene status. Result: Caries prevalence revealed a mean DMFT 5.99 teeth. The significant differences were found in mean of total DMFT score and its ‘Decayed’ component. Gingival index score was 0.72 ± 0.37 which indicate good gingival condition. There’s a highly statistically significant difference among the male when compared with female students (p&gt;0.001). Plaque index score was 0.92 ± 0.33, 72% of the students had good oral hygiene. 86% reported they brush at least once a day. We observed significant difference from groups male to female groups (p=0.001). Flossing been adopted by 59% of students. Female students reported significantly higher frequencies (p=0.005) Conclusions: This study recommends the needs to have extensive program for the dental students from the beginning to enhance the selfcare behaviors and also the oral health status. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.22 (Special Issue) 2023 p.33-41

Oral Health Promotion among Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review.

People with disabilities experience inferior health and poor access to good quality health services as compared with the general population. Optimum oral health is associated with improvement in the quality of life in such patients. As oral diseases are largely preventable, good oral health education can have a positive impact on individuals with disabilities. So, the aim of the study was to review the effectiveness of oral health promotion among individuals with intellectual disabilities (IDs). Seven electronic databases were searched using keywords like intellectual disability/mental retardation/learning disability AND dental health education/health promotion. All records that were identified electronically from this search were subjected to a preliminary review to identify eligible papers. Identified studies were grouped into oral health promotion directed at individuals with IDs, and those aimed at caregivers of people with IDs. Interpretation of the outcomes included the effects on oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (either observed or self-reported). Eventually, 16 studies were included in the review including five studies that were randomized controlled trials, while the remaining 11 studies were pre-post single group oral health promotion studies. Critical appraisal of each study was conducted with the 21-item criteria by Kay and Locker (1997) to provide a numerical quantification and ranking of the evidence. Positive changes in the behaviors and attitudes were observed, while other studies reported a considerable improvement in the knowledge of caregivers for oral healthcare of individuals with IDs. However, such activities need to be done over a long period of time with constant monitoring.