Halitosis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Halitosis, including details on bad breath, oral hygiene, oral bacteria, treatment. | ||||||||
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Oral self-care behaviours: comparing Greek and Japanese dental students.Polychronopoulou A, Kawamura M Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, University of Athens School of Dentistry, Athens, Greece. argy_poly@post.harvard.edu AIM: This study explored cross-cultural differences of self-reported oral health behaviours between Greek and Japanese dental students. PARTICIPANTS: The sample population included 877 dental students, 539 students registered at the University of Athens Dental School, and 338 registered at the Hiroshima University Dental School. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Oral health behaviour was assessed using the Greek and Japanese versions of a 20-item questionnaire entitled Hiroshima University-Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI). RESULTS: The mean questionnaire score of the Japanese students (7.40) was significantly greater than that of the Greek peers (6.86, P = 0.001), indicating better oral self-care behaviour amongst the Japanese students; however, the overall difference was mainly attributed to their additional sixth study year. Greek and Japanese students provided significantly different answers to 14 of 20 HU-DBI items. Greeks significantly more often were required by their dentist to evaluate their brushing technique (OR = 14.4, P < 0.01), checked their teeth in the mirror after brushing (OR = 8.1, P < 0.01), worried about bad breath (OR = 6.7, P < 0.01), and believed that gum disease is preventable by tooth brushing alone (OR = 2.1, P < 0.05), whereas their Japanese peers significantly more often felt comfortable to clean their teeth without the use of a toothpaste (OR = 0.3, P < 0.01), believed that they take much time to brush their teeth (OR = 0.3, P < 0.01), used a child-sized toothbrush (OR = 0.2, P < 0.01), and put off going to the dentist until having toothache (OR = 0.4, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Considerable differences in dental health attitudes/behaviour exist amongst students in the two countries reflecting the different culture and the health education system of the students; moreover, it is possible to distinguish Greek dental students from Japanese peers with a probability of more than 89% by using the HU-DBI instrument. Published 30 September 2005 in Eur J Dent Educ, 9(4): 164-70.
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