title: Smoking prevalence and its effect on dental health attitudes and behavior among dental students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine smoking prevalence and its effect on dental health attitudes and behavior among dental students in Jordan.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study of 314 dental students was conducted at Jordan University of Science and Technology. Subjects were surveyed using a modified version of the Hiroshima University Dental Behavior Inventory (HU-DBI) questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to study differences between male smokers and nonsmokers only.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 83.7%, with 48% males and 52% females. The prevalence of smoking was 17.2%. Smoking was more prevalent among male students (31%) than female (4.3%). For male students, the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed 6 items that were different between smokers and nonsmokers. Nonsmokers tended to brush their teeth more often than smokers (OR 8.67, 95% CI 1.66-45.25); claimed that they had never been professionally taught how to brush their teeth (OR 11.15, 95% CI 1.89-65.67); believed that they spend too much time brushing their teeth (OR 12.24, 95% CI 2.0-75.05); were more concerned about having bad breath (OR 41.86, 95% CI 3.44-58.75) and were more concerned about the color of their gums (OR 8.04, 95% CI 1.55-41.84).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Smoking prevalence among male dental students in Jordan was high, 7 times greater than for females. Male smokers and nonsmokers had different attitudes and oral health behaviors as indicated by the study survey.
authors.affiliation: Department of Restorative Sciences, Kuwait University. qalomari@hsc.edu.kw
authors.forename: Qasem
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Alomari
authors.forename: Kefah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Barrieshi-Nusair
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Said
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan; D008297:Male; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*