Rao Duggineni Chalapathi, Vundavalli Sudhakar, Indiran Meignana Arumugham, Rao Atluri Kaleswara, Radhika Doppalapudi, Salloum Mahmoud Gamal
Department of Prosthodontics, Mamata Dental College, Khammam, Telangana, India.
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
J Indian Prosthodont Soc. 2025 Jan 1;25(1):59-66. doi: 10.4103/jips.jips_283_24. Epub 2025 Jan 3.
To assess the role of oral health literacy (OHL) in demand for oral healthcare services for missing teeth replacement among adult patients who are visiting the outpatient department of a teaching hospital, Andhra Pradesh, India.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in a dental teaching institute, Andhra Pradesh, southern part of India.
Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a sample of adult participants was selected through systematic random method from the patients who visited the outpatient department. Data from 740 participants were included in the final analysis. A prevalidated questionnaire adopted from Oral Health Literacy Adult Questionnaire (OHL-AQ) was used for data collection and american dental association (ADA) type IV clinical examination was used for recording missing teeth.
Bivariate tests such as the Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney's test, and multinomial logistic regression analysis were used to assess the predictors for the demand for the replacement of missing teeth.
The overall demand for replacement of missing teeth was 46.22%. 37.88% of participants had adequate OHL, 24.72% had marginal OHL, and 37.4% had inadequate OHL. Demand for replacement was more in females than males (57.6% vs. 35.6%), which was statistically significant (P = 0.00). Participants with missing anterior teeth had nearly twice the demand for prosthodontic care (P = 0.046). Participants with adequate OHL had 3.63 times more demand for prosthodontic replacement of missing teeth (odds ratio = 3.63 and P = 0.002).
OHL has a positive role in the demand for prosthodontic replacement of missing teeth along with gender and anterior missing teeth. Oral health policies should incorporate strategies to improve OHL.
评估口腔健康素养（OHL）在印度安得拉邦一家教学医院门诊部就诊的成年患者对缺失牙修复口腔医疗服务需求中的作用。
本横断面研究在印度南部安得拉邦的一所牙科教学机构进行。
根据纳入和排除标准，通过系统随机方法从门诊部就诊患者中选取成年参与者样本。最终分析纳入了740名参与者的数据。采用从《口腔健康素养成人问卷》（OHL - AQ）改编的预验证问卷进行数据收集，并使用美国牙科协会（ADA）IV型临床检查记录缺失牙情况。
采用双变量检验，如卡方检验、曼 - 惠特尼检验和多项逻辑回归分析，以评估缺失牙修复需求的预测因素。
缺失牙修复的总体需求为46.22%。37.88%的参与者具备足够的口腔健康素养，24.72%的参与者口腔健康素养处于边缘水平，37.4%的参与者口腔健康素养不足。女性对修复的需求高于男性（57.6%对35.6%），差异具有统计学意义（P = 0.00）。前牙缺失的参与者对修复治疗的需求几乎是其他参与者的两倍（P = 0.046）。具备足够口腔健康素养的参与者对缺失牙修复治疗的需求是其他参与者的3.63倍（优势比 = 3.63，P = 0.002）。
口腔健康素养在缺失牙修复治疗需求中与性别和前牙缺失一样具有积极作用。口腔健康政策应纳入提高口腔健康素养的策略。
