Aim: To assess the impact of oral health status on daily living among Lithuanian university students. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS) among third year dental and veterinary students, in March-April 2018. The impact of oral health status was evaluated by the Lithuanian version of OHIP-14. Data were collected on oral health behaviour, measured by reason for routine visits to a dentist and oral hygiene habits. Statistical analyses were performed using ANOVA and Chi-squared tests. The Centre for Bioethics at LUHS granted its permission to conduct the present study. Results: A total of 150 (60%) (75 dental and 75 veterinary students) of those invited responded. Mean age of participants was 21.7 (±1.6) years. Visiting a dentist for a check-up was reported by 124 (83%), significantly more by dental than veterinary students (68 (91%) vs. 56 (75%), p=0.010). Almost all (139 (93%) indicated brushing their teeth twice or more times daily with no significant difference between the two groups. Significantly more dental than veterinary students indicated daily inter-dental cleaning using floss (60 (80%) vs. 24 (32%), p<0.001), and inter-dental brushing (22 (29%) vs. 6 (8%), p=0.001). Only 16 (11%) of students didn’t experience any impacts of oral health status on their daily living. The mean sum score of complaints was 6.2 (SD=6.0, median=5.0, range 0-30), with no significant difference between the student groups. Higher mean scores of complaints came from students who reported troublesome dental visits (10.4 vs. 5.3, p=0.011). The highest mean sum scores were for psychological discomfort (1.9) and physical pain (1.3) subscales of OHIP-14. Physical pain was experienced more often by those who brush their teeth less frequently – 1.9 vs 1.2,( p=0.031). Conclusions: The impact of oral health status on the daily living of study participants was strongly re....
Sakalauskienė et al. (Thu,) studied this question.