Oral Health Behaviours and Preventive Dental Care Experiences Among Patients with Special Health Care Needs at Special Care Dentistry Clinic, University of Malaya

@#To assess the oral health behaviour and preventive dental care experiences of patients with special health care needs (SHCN) who attended the Special Care Dental (SCD) Clinic at University of Malaya. Data were collected from 31 patients using a self-administered questionnaire which consisted of questions pertaining to their oral health behaviours and experiences on receiving preventive dental care (PDC). For patients who were unable to answer due to existing health conditions, parents or primary caregivers were approached as proxy. Descriptive analysis was conducted and reported based on percentages to identify the oral health behaviour and PDC of the individuals. Majority brushed their teeth at least once a day (84%), used fluoridated toothpaste (87%) and oral hygiene aids (58%). However, almost half of them (48%) required assistance from parents or caregivers during tooth brushing and consumed sugary snacks in between meals (58%). About 80% had received PDC where the type of care received was mainly oral hygiene advice (77%). Slightly more than 80% preferred the one-to-one demonstration method during PDC. Most gave positive evaluation on their PDC experience especially on items pertaining to the dentist’s attitude. Whilst most of the SHCN patients in this study had positive perception on the PDC that they received and practised good brushing behaviour, their dietary habits need to be improved. Thus, regular preventive dental visit amongst SHCN patients is important for appropriate and comprehensive dental care in maintaining oral health..

Attitudes of dental and pharmacy students to oral health behaviour at Jazan University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Hiroshima University Dental Behaviour Inventory (HU-DBI) was used to assess the attitudes towards oral health behaviour of the pharmacy and dental college students at Jazan University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). HU-DBI consists of 20 items primarily associated with tooth brushing behaviour. All of the items have a dichotomous response format (agree/disagree). A quantitative estimate of oral health attitude and behaviour is provided by the total appropriate agree/disagree responses. The maximum possible score is 12. Greater HU-DBI score indicates better oral health attitude and behaviour. A total of 57 students participated in the survey with a response rate of 71%. There was a significant difference (p=0.0001) between dental and pharmacy college students for oral health attitudes with dental students presenting a mean HU-DBI score of 6.65 in contrast to 4.74 among pharmacy students. Significantly greater percentage of pharmacy students (83.9%) reported that they don’t worry much about visiting the dentist than the dental students (53.8%). Nearly three-fourths of pharmacy students believed that their teeth was getting worse despite of daily brushing and significantly more pharmacy students were worried about bad breath Dental college students reported better attitudes to oral health behaviour than students of pharmacy.

Dental caries and oral health behaviour in the Malaysian Territorial Army Personnel

A survey was conducted to assess dental caries experience and oral health related behaviour among Malaysian Territorial Army (TA) personnel. This cross-sectional study involved 284 personnel covering their socio-demography, oral hygiene habits and related behaviour and past utilization of dental services pattern. Dental caries were assessed using DMFT index. Caries prevalence was very high (97.2%; DMFT 8.15±5.36). Untreated decay (DT) was 3.67 (±3.15) and missing teeth (MT) 2.90 (±3.73). However, few were treated teeth (FT) at only 1.58 (±2.02). Almost everyone (98.2%) claimed they brushed their teeth at least once daily and 80% used fluoridated toothpaste. However, very few participants used dental floss (11.3%) while majority (60.2%) did not know about flossing. More than 70% were current smokers. Only 13.7% were regular attendees with the majority (86.3%) visiting the dentist only when they had dental problems. The most common reason (49.7%) for their last dental visit was related to presence of symptoms and few were (27.4%) for prevention. Symptomatic attendees are significantly more likely to have more severe caries experience than preventive oriented individuals (p=0.003). These findings support the importance of promoting preventive oral health utilization behaviour among army personnel.