Dental health attitudes and behaviour among dental students in Jordan.
OBJECTIVE
Examine and compare differences in oral health attitudes and behaviour among Jordanian dental students.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of 314 dental students was conducted to compare differences in oral health behaviour and attitudes among these students in different levels of academic education.


METHODS
Jordan University of Science and Technology.


METHODS
Subjects were surveyed using a modified version of the Hiroshima University Dental Behavior Inventory (HU-DBI) questionnaire (20 Items). Multivariate binary and polytomous logistic regression analyses were performed in order to study change of patterns of statements during preclinical and clinical, and year of study, respectively.


RESULTS
The percentage of students claiming to brush their teeth twice daily or more often was four times higher amongst clinical students than amongst pre-clinical students.. The odds of visiting a dentist only in case of toothache was reduced by a factor of more than three among clinical year students (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.15-0.61). Clinical year students rarely complained of bleeding gums after toothbrushing (OR 0.10, 95% CI 0.03-0.27). On the other hand, a number of items regarding use of dental floss and tooth paste, bad breath, colour and appearance of teeth, and cigarette smoking was similar between preclinical and clinical students. Evaluation of trends during dental studies employing polytomous multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed an abrupt change at the end of preclinical studies for items characterizing professional attitude.


CONCLUSIONS
With advancement in dental school, dental student's oral health awareness and attitudes improved in some aspects. Preventive dentistry courses should be taught early in the dental curriculum of the pre-clinical years.
Barrieshi-Nusair
Kefah
K
Department of Restorative Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 24923 Safat, Kuwait. kefahmb@hsc.edu.kw
Alomari
Qasem
Q
Said
Khalid
K
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007597:Jordan; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D016015:Logistic Models; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires