Oral health attitudes and behaviors of the dental students in a state university in İstanbul

Year 2024, Volume: 7 Issue: 6, 610 - 614, 27.10.2024

Gizem İnce Kuka , Hare Gürsoy

Abstract

Aims: Dental students have a critical role in educating their patients and relatives regarding oral health. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the changes in attitude and behavior of dental students’ during their education from preclinical to clinical classes using the Hiroshima University Dental Behavioral Inventory (HU-DBI).
Methods: The Turkish translation of HU-DBI was distributed to the 537 students studying at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Health Sciences, in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Results: A total of 416 students completed the survey. The total mean HU-DBI score was 6.3±1.54. The mean HU-DBI scores were significantly higher in clinical classes (6.51±1.48) compared to preclinical classes (5.82±1.61) (p=0.001; p<0.01). Compared to the clinical students, preclinical students reported a significantly higher percentage of bleeding when they brush their teeth (p=0.001); they were bothered about their teeth color (p=0.0119; they thought that their teeth were getting worse even though they brushed them every day (p=0.006); and they postponed going to the dentist until their teeth hurt (p=0.001). Moreover, a significantly higher percentage of clinical students stated that their dentist has told them that they brush their teeth very well compared to the preclinical students (p=0.044).
Conclusion: Initiating oral health education programs at the start of dental education may be beneficial for improving students’ oral health awareness and knowledge.

Keywords

Inventory, dental students, Turkiye

Ethical Statement

The study was performed in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration and approved by the Health Sciences University Hamidiye Scientific Research Ethics Committee (number: 2024/ 14).

Supporting Institution

NONE

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