Author: Jun Ai Chong
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Dental caries is a preventable chronic disease whereby identification of risk factors will
facilitate preventive measures. This study aims to determine the level of oral health literacy (OHL), self-care practices (SCP), salivary parameters and ascertain its assocation with caries status amongst the
undergraduates in IMU University.
Methods: Levels of OHL (Knowledge-OHL, dental services utilisation, and label reading habit) and SCP were assessed through a self-administered questionnaire. Chairside saliva kits were used to measure the salivary parameters whilst clinical examination was performed to assess caries status. Independent T-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare differences between sex and courses respectively for measures of interest (OHL, SCP, salivary parameters, and caries status) whereas bivariate correlation with Pearsons’s coefficient was performed to examine their association with caries status.
Results: The participants (n=132) had a mean Knowledge-OHL score of 23.75±8.09 with no significant difference between sex (females, 24.01±8.51; males, 23.48±7.69; p=0.15). Dentistry students had significantly higher Knowledge-OHL score than students of all other courses (p=0.01). The mean SCP score was 20.19±3.16 whereas mean DMFT was 2.32 ±3.14. All participants had healthy saliva parameters. Caries status was significantly correlated with Knowledge-OHL score (p=0.02, r=-0.18), dental services utilisation (p=0.04, r=-0.15) but not with label reading habit (p=0.78, r=0.03), SCP (p=0.30, r=-0.05) and all salivary parameters.
Conclusion: Knowledge-OHL and oral health services utilisation are significantly associated with oral health status.
Keywords: dental caries, health literacy, oral health, saliva, self-care
Citations: IeJSME 2025 Vol 19 (1): 09-16