Oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior in adults of Deyang city, PR China / 华西口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the oral health knowledge, attitudes and behavior of urban, rural and suburban adults in Deyang, PR China, and analyze the influence of several variables on the utilization of dental services.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>1010 adults with 35-44 years old from urban, rural and suburban areas were interviewed by Questionnaire for Adults, WHO Integrated Package for Basic Oral Care.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>More than half of the surveyed adults claimed "having pain of mouth during the last 1 year". More urban adults (61.3%) used fluoridate toothpaste than suburban and rural adults (6.9%, 16.8%). 61.0% and 71.5% of rural and suburban adults had never seen a dentist, compared with 32.0% of urban adults. Logistic regression analysis showed that urban adults having pain in mouth during the last year were more likely to visit a dentist in the last 2 years.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Although the oral health attitude is good among the people in Deyang, the knowledge is poor. Dental service utilization was not enough and the situation was also worse for rural adults.</p>