title: Oral health literacy among clients visiting a rural dental college in North India-a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Limited health literacy among adults is one of the many barriers to better oral health outcomes. It is not uncommon to find people who consider understanding oral health information a challenge. Therefore, the present study assessed oral health literacy among clients visiting Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital, Rajpura.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted on 450participants who visited the Out Patient Department (OPD) of Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital for a period of two months (Nov-Dec, 2013). A questionnaire was given to each of the participants. Oral health literacy was graded on a 12-point Likert scale based on the total score. Oral Health Literacy of the participants was assessed as low, medium and high on the basis of responses. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS-15 statistical package. ANOVA and Student t-test were used to do comparisons between groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Low oral health literacy scores were reported in 60.2% (271) participants. More than 60% of the study participants had knowledge about dental terms such as 'dental caries,' and 'oral cancer.' Only 22% of the graduates had a high literacy score. Mean oral health literacy score according to educational qualification was statistically significant (p<0.05), whereas there was no significant difference in terms of age and gender (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of the participants had low literacy scores. There is a need to address these problems especially among rural population by health care providers and the government.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital, Rajpura, India.
authors.forename: Gambhir
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ramandeep
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgey, Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital, Rajpura, India.
authors.forename: Singh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arshdeep
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgey, Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital, Rajpura, India.
authors.forename: Kapoor
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vinod
authors.affiliation: Department of Pedodontics, Gian Sagar Dental College and Hospital, Rajpura, India.
authors.forename: Pannu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parampreet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009059:Mouth Diseases; D009909:Oral Health; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014076:Tooth Diseases; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Oral health; clients; education; knowledge; literacy