Oral Hygiene Habits and Awareness among Young Population

Abstract

Aim and purpose: Optimum oral health depends on the individualoral hygiene practices. The aim of the present study was to evalu-ate oral care habits, attitudes and awareness of oral hygieneamong young population.Materials and method: A sample of 2,740 university students (agesbetween 19 and 22) from 5 different geopolitical zones of Turkeywere enrolled. 14-items structured questionnaire was conducted toevaluate oral hygiene practices and dental care service utilization.The data were analyzed using “SPSS 19.0 for Windows” softwareprogramme.Results: 2740 written questionnaires were analysed. 64.9% of thestudents reported brushing at least twice-a-day while 28% once-a-day. 38% stated to use mouthwash (72% randomly, 15% oncea day), 26.5% flossing after brushing while 4.7% additionallyusing interdental brush. Dietary regulation was also assessed andshowed that 45% were having regular 3 time-meals while 8.6%having snack meals in between the regular meals. 31.8% stated tochew sugar-free gums after meals. 19.3% reported having dentistvisit regularly once-a-year while 13.5% having visited only in caseof emergency. 51.6% were instructed professional oral hygienemotivation whereas 18.2% having professional cleaning once-a-year. 22.4% of students are smoking and 51.6% are complaint ofhalitosis beside 51.2% having gingival bleeding. Frequencies didnot differ significantly among the regions evaluated (p > 0.05).Summary and conclusions: Questionnaire results showed that apositive state of oral hygiene habits and behaviour improvementwas observed among the university students. Intellectual/educa-tional level seemed to have a positive impact on the awareness oforal health care among the young population.