title: Correlation of sense of coherence with oral health behaviors, socioeconomic status, and periodontal status.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The sense of coherence (SOC) has been suggested to be highly applicable concept in the public health area because a strong SOC is stated to decrease the likelihood of perceiving the social environment as stressful. This reduces the susceptibility to the health-damaging effect of chronic stress by lowering the likelihood of repeated negative emotions to stress perception.
  
  
  METHODS
  The demographic data and general information of subjects' oral health behaviors such as frequency of cleaning teeth, aids used to clean teeth, and dental attendance were recorded in the self-administered questionnaire. The SOC-related data were obtained using the short version of Antonovsky's SOC scale. The periodontal status was recorded based on the modified World Health Organization 1997 pro forma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total of 780 respondents comprising 269 (34.5%) males and 511 (65.5%) females participated in the study. A significant difference was noted among the subjects for socioeconomic status based on gender (P= 0.000). The healthy periodontal status (community periodontal index [CPI] code 0) was observed for 67 (24.9%) males and 118 (23.1%) females. The overall SOC showed statistically negative correlation with socioeconomic status scale (r= -0.287). The CPI and loss of attachment (periodontal status) were significantly and negatively correlated with SOC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study concluded that a high level of SOC was associated with good oral health behaviors, periodontal status, and socioeconomic status.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Kommuri Sahithi
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Dolar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Suhas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Bandari Srikanth
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Madupu Padma
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Reddy
keywords: Oral health; oral health behaviors; periodontal status; sense of coherence