Pediatric Dentistry Department, Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Pedodontics and Oral Health, Faculty of Dental Medicine for Girls, Al Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
BMC Oral Health. 2023 Jan 30;23(1):50. doi: 10.1186/s12903-023-02746-0.
Maintaining good oral hygiene is key to preventing dental caries and periodontal disease. Children and adolescents with good oral hygiene behaviours are likely to grow into adults with the same behaviours. This study assessed the frequency of using various oral hygiene methods among children and adolescents from different countries and individual, familial and country-level factors associated with the use of these methods.
A multi-country online survey collected data from caregivers of children in 2020-21 about children's use of oral hygiene methods including toothbrush, fluoridated toothpaste, mouthwash, dental floss and miswak using self-administered, close-ended questions. Adjusted multilevel logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between each of the five oral hygiene methods (dependent variables) and the independent factors: sex, age, and history of dental visits (individual factors), mother's education and area of residence (familial factors) as well as country income and region (country-level factors).
A total of 4766 parents/caregivers were included from 20 countries (77.4% Eastern Mediterranean-region and 41.6% lower middle income countries). The most frequent oral hygiene methods were using toothbrush and toothpaste (90% and 60.3%). The use of oral hygiene methods differed by age, sex and history of dental visits as well as mother's education and area of residence (P < 0.05). In addition, children from low income countries had significantly lower odds of using mouthwashes and dental floss than those from high income countries (AOR = 0.55, 95% CI 0.31, 0.98 and AOR = 0.34, 95% CI 0.12, 0.97) whereas children from the European region had higher odds of using mouthwash (AOR = 2.82, 95% CI 1.27, 6.26) and those from the region of the Americas had higher odds of using dental floss (AOR = 3.84, 95% CI 1.28, 11.52) than those from the Eastern Mediterranean region.
The use of various oral hygiene methods is associated with individual, familial and country-level factors. Oral health promotion programs should be developed taking into account these influences.
保持良好的口腔卫生是预防龋齿和牙周病的关键。具有良好口腔卫生行为的儿童和青少年更有可能成长为具有相同行为的成年人。本研究评估了来自不同国家的儿童和青少年使用各种口腔卫生方法的频率，以及与这些方法使用相关的个体、家庭和国家层面的因素。
一项多国家在线调查于 2020-2021 年期间收集了儿童照顾者的数据，内容包括儿童使用牙刷、含氟牙膏、漱口水、牙线和牙间刷等口腔卫生方法的情况，使用自我管理的封闭式问题进行调查。采用调整后的多水平逻辑回归模型评估了五种口腔卫生方法（因变量）与独立因素之间的关系：性别、年龄和看牙医的历史（个体因素）、母亲的教育程度和居住地区（家庭因素）以及国家收入和地区（国家层面因素）。
共纳入来自 20 个国家的 4766 名家长/照顾者（77.4%来自东地中海地区，41.6%来自中低收入国家）。最常用的口腔卫生方法是使用牙刷和牙膏（90%和 60.3%）。口腔卫生方法的使用因年龄、性别和看牙医的历史以及母亲的教育程度和居住地区而异（P<0.05）。此外，来自低收入国家的儿童使用漱口水和牙线的可能性明显低于来自高收入国家的儿童（OR=0.55，95%CI 0.31，0.98 和 OR=0.34，95%CI 0.12，0.97），而来自欧洲地区的儿童使用漱口水的可能性更高（OR=2.82，95%CI 1.27，6.26），来自美洲地区的儿童使用牙线的可能性更高（OR=3.84，95%CI 1.28，11.52），而来自东地中海地区的儿童使用牙线的可能性则较低。
各种口腔卫生方法的使用与个体、家庭和国家层面的因素有关。在制定口腔健康促进计划时应考虑到这些影响。
