Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics, Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, Karachi 75500, Pakistan.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2023 Mar 30;59(4):688. doi: 10.3390/medicina59040688.
: Oral health is one of the most significant issues in public health. The Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) Index is a useful tool for assessing and measuring the state of oral health in a community. This study aimed to evaluate oral health knowledge, attitudes, and practices among participants who visited a dental clinic at King Faisal University and to evaluate their DMFT scores. This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted at the King Faisal University dental complex, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, using a simple random sampling technique. The data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire in English and Arabic. All statistical analyses were carried out using the SPSS 20 software. A chi square and ANOVA test were used to assess the association. A value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. There were a total of 260 participants, of whom 193 (74.2%) were male and 67 (25.8%) were female. Most participants, 173 (66.5%), were between the ages of 18 and 28. The majority of the participants 191 (73.5%) believed that bad oral hygiene led to gum disease. Additionally, major issues while visiting dental clinics, the importance of routine dental clinic visits, the existence of a connection between oral and general health, brushing time and frequency of change of used brush were significantly influenced by gender ( < 0.05). In terms of the DMFT index, mean numbers of decaying teeth (D) were 4.82 ± 4.15, mean numbers of missing teeth (M) were 1.56 ± 2.94, mean numbers of filled teeth (F) were 5.17 ± 5.28 and mean DMFT score was 11.56 ± 6.32, with a statistically significant difference observed ( < 0.001). This study concluded that, although some of the study participants neglected oral hygiene practices, the majority of participants had good knowledge and attitudes regarding the significance of oral hygiene. Owing to inadequate practices, the decayed, missing, and filled teeth scores increased with increasing age. Additionally, gender had no significant impact on the mean scores for decayed, missing, and filled teeth, although there were significant differences between age groups.
口腔健康是公共卫生中最重要的问题之一。龋齿、失牙和补牙（DMFT）指数是评估和衡量社区口腔健康状况的有用工具。本研究旨在评估在法伊萨尔国王大学牙科诊所就诊的参与者的口腔健康知识、态度和实践，并评估他们的 DMFT 评分。这项横断面、基于问卷的研究在沙特阿拉伯王国法伊萨尔国王大学牙科综合大楼进行，使用简单随机抽样技术。数据使用英语和阿拉伯语的自我管理结构化问卷收集。所有统计分析均使用 SPSS 20 软件进行。卡方检验和方差分析用于评估关联。 值<0.05 被认为具有统计学意义。共有 260 名参与者，其中 193 名（74.2%）为男性，67 名（25.8%）为女性。大多数参与者（173 名，66.5%）年龄在 18 至 28 岁之间。大多数参与者（191 名，73.5%）认为口腔卫生不良会导致牙龈疾病。此外，在就诊牙科诊所时的主要问题、定期就诊牙科诊所的重要性、口腔健康与一般健康之间的联系、刷牙时间和使用牙刷的更换频率，这些问题均受性别显著影响（<0.05）。在 DMFT 指数方面，腐烂牙（D）的平均值为 4.82±4.15，缺失牙（M）的平均值为 1.56±2.94，补牙（F）的平均值为 5.17±5.28，DMFT 平均值为 11.56±6.32，差异有统计学意义（<0.001）。本研究得出结论，尽管一些研究参与者忽视了口腔卫生习惯，但大多数参与者对口腔卫生的重要性有良好的认识和态度。由于实践不足，随着年龄的增长，腐烂、缺失和补牙的分数增加。此外，性别对腐烂、缺失和补牙的平均分数没有显著影响，尽管年龄组之间存在显著差异。
