Prevalence of dental caries, oral health awareness and treatment-seeking behavior of elderly population in rural Maharashtra

Background and Objective: There have been numerous studies of oral health status of school children and young population; however, similar studies in elderly population in India are lacking. With advances in medical science and consequent increase in life expectancy, elderly population is on the rise and is a subject of growing concern for public health policy. Hence, an attempt was made to study factors influencing decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index, oral health awareness, and dental treatment-seeking behavior of elderly population. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based survey was conducted between September 2014 and December 2014 in villages in rural Maharashtra. Sociodemographic and health-related information were collected from 352 participants 60 years of age and above in 10 villages. Results: Prevalence of dental caries was 76.4% in a study population with median DMFT score of 12 with interquartile range of 7–22. The majority of the participants cleaned their teeth with fingers using charcoal and mishri. Only 17.2% participants used toothbrush. About 39% participants had experienced dental pain, of which majority did not visit dentist. The median DMFT index who used toothbrush and toothpaste was significantly less when compared with participants who did not use tooth brush and tooth paste. The majority of the participants had one or more missing teeth, but only 2.2% were using dentures. Conclusion: There is an urgent need for comprehensive oral health educational programs, and accessible and affordable oral health services to be provided to rural community.

A study on oral health knowledge and the need for oral health education among industrial workers / 대한구강보건학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between oral health behaviors of workers by examining the oral health awareness and the need for oral health education. METHODS: After the institutional review board approval, we surveyed industrial workers in Seoul, Gwangju, Changwon, and Goksung, in Korea, from July 19 to August 29, 2016. The final questionnaires (287 in total) were assessed using the SPSS 24.0 software for Windows (SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL, USA). The data were analyzed using frequency analysis, average, standard deviation, t-test, and the Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Through the response of “yes” for the question, “oral health education experience,” we can see the respondents have high level of interest (P<0.001). And through the response of “yes” for the question, “Periodic oral Examination” and “regular scaling” and “oral care product use” we can see the respondents have high level of interest (P<0.001) and high importance (P<0.001), there was a statistically significant difference. On analyzing the correlations between workers, there was positive correlation oral health ‘Interest’ and ‘Importance’ (r=0.598, P<0.001). Of the 287 participants, 80.1% indicated that they did not receive any previous oral health education, while 85.4% indicated a willingness to attend oral health education programs in the future. Of the 80.1% of participants with no prior oral health education, 60.0% indicated lack of oral health education because of few opportunities to participate in such programs. They most prefer “Oral Hygiene Management” 64.8% for education contents and choose “Direct-education by inviting Expert” as the best education method 75.6%. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to develop oral health education programs suitable for the industrial field characteristics for people in workplace, and to enhance and expand oral health education services in the workplace in order to maintain interest in oral health.

Relationship of Parental Knowledge and Attitude with Oral Health Status of Children in Karachi East.

Objective: This study aims to determine the relationship of parental knowledge and attitude towards their child’s oral habits and health status, and evaluate whether educational status of parents plays a significant role and the level of motivation of parents for child’s regular dental checkup. Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Dental OPD of Dow International Dental College and Fazaia Degree College, April 2014, Karachi East, Pakistan. Methodology: Parents of preschool and primary school going children. A self-designed closed ended type questionnaire was provided in both English and Urdu language. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 16. The relationship between variables was done by frequency distribution and Chi-square test. Results: A total of 200 completed questionnaires were considered for final analysis. 61% of the parents had children of preschool age and 38.5% were primary school going. 56.5% of the subjects had education up to Graduation or higher level. Majority of the parents belonged to Middle class 63%. 82-96% of parents were aware of preventive role of tooth brushing and fluoride. 95.5% considered regular dental checkup important.74-95% of parents showed positive attitude towards factors important for maintenance of oral health. But 64.5% of parents still did not take their child for regular visit to dentist. Conclusions: The study shows that parents have relatively higher knowledge and positive attitude regardless of educational and socioeconomic status, however children still seemed to practice habits which affected their oral health therefore preventive dental programmes should not only focus on educating but developing personal skills in both the parents and young children and improve parents’ attitude on importance of early preventive dental visit.

Evaluation of oral health awareness in parents of preschool children.

Objectives: Little data are available on the initiative shown by the parents for dental health care of their preschool children in India. This study was conducted to evaluate the status of oral health awareness in parents of preschool children. Materials and Methods: A total of 230 preschool children were included in the study and their parents were analyzed for their child dental awareness by holding free dental checkups and interactive meetings with the help of their respective schools. Results and Conclusion: Results revealed that there is a low initiation of the parents when oral health care of small children is concerned; however, an active collective effort of the school and dental team can make awareness program effective.