Knowledge and behaviors about oral health of adults admitted to family medicine clinic in a rural area*

Abstract

Objective: It is aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of adults about oral health in a rural area. Our secondary aim is to determine parents’ teaching status of their children about oral health.

Methods: Our research is a descriptive study. Our study included 235 participants, who applied to Sivas Akıncılar District State Hospital, Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic between January 1-February 1, 2018 and agreed to participate in the study. The questionnaire which measures the information and behaviors of the participants about oral health was applied with the face to face interview method.by. Patients under 18 years of age, those with no cognitive ability to answer the questions, and patients without teeth were excluded from the study. Numerical values’ normality analysis was performed with Shapiro-Wilk test. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the normal distribution data.

Results: Among the 235 participants, 64.3% (n=151) were female and 35.7% (n=84) were male. The median age is 35.0 (min:18-max:79). The correct answers’ median, to given 9 question that measure the knowledge in the questionnaire was 5 (min:0-max:9). The median age of the participants began brushing their teeth was found to be 12 (min:3-max:53). While 6.0% (14) of the participants went to the dentist regularly, 88.5% (208)’s went when they have complaint. 186 of the participants had children. 60.2% (n=112) of the parents gave education about oral health to their children.

Conclusion: It was determined that the participants’ level of knowledge was low and they had training needs about oral health. It was determined that more than half of those with children had given education to their children. Oral health education for adults is thought to be necessary both for their own health and for giving the right information to their children.