Long-Term effects of schol based oral health program on oral health knowledge and practices and Oral Health-Related quality of life

Objective: To evaluate the effects of exposure to the School Oral Health Program [SOHP] during primary school years on the current oral health [OH] knowledge and practices and OH-related quality of life [OHRQoL] of Kuwait University students

Subjects and Methods: 300 university students, aged 17.6-24.3 years, completed a validated questionnaire that consisted of 5 sections about demographics, health self-evaluation, OH knowledge and practices and OHRQoL. Of these students, 260 were female, 40 male, 262 single and 38 married. 189 participants had attended the SOHP, while 111 had not. Frequencies and means were used for data description. The Student t test was used to compare the means, while X[2] analysis was used for the associations between SOHP and non-SOHP attendance. The odds ratios [ORs] were calculated for significant factors

Results: The SOHP attendees were twice as aware of the relationship between gum problems and heart diseases than the non-SOHP [OR = 2, 95% CI = 1.15-3.48, p = 0.013]. The daily activities of the non-SOHP attendees were twice as likely to be affected by dental health issues compared to those of the SOHP attendees [OR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.41-3.68, p < 0.001]. In addition, the SOHP attendees were 3 times as likely to describe their OH status as good/very good/excellent than the non-SOHP attendees [OR = 2.85, 95% CI = 1.31-6.18, p = 0.008]

Conclusions: The SOHP attendees had a better OHRQoL and overall self-satisfaction with their OH than the non-SOHP attendees with insignificant differences between the 2 groups in OH knowledge and practices

Effect of socioeconomic status, education level and type of denture on denture hygiene knowledge and practices of denture wearers

The objective of this cross-sectional survey was to assess the knowledge level of complete and partial denture wearers regarding denture hygiene measures and practices, and to find any association of knowledge level with socioeconomic status, education and type of denture. Eighty five denture wearers were interviewed through a self-designed close-ended questionnaire including nine relevant questions that were to be answered as "No" or "Yes". Final score was determined numerically, rang-ing from 9 upto 18, which was used to devise five groups of knowledge level: extremely poor [score of 9-10], relatively poor [score of 11-12], moderate [score of 13-14], relatively good [score of 15-16], and extremely good [score of 17-18]. Results showed that the knowledge grade of the study participants was non-significant for socioeconomic status [P value 0.55] but highly significant for education level [P value 0.001] and type of denture [P value 0.014]. It was concluded that knowledge and practices of the patients regarding denture hygiene was related to their educational status [more literate participants had better knowledge] and also to the type of denture being worn [complete denture patients had relatively better knowledge than the partial denture patients]