Oral health related attitudes and behavior correlated with gender. An item-level analysis using the Hiroshima University Dental Behavior Inventory

Objective: To investigate inter-gender differences as they are reflected in the oral health related attitudes and behaviors. Material and method: This is a one time, transversal correlational study. 318 participants from Romania with no dental specific education took part in the research, well balan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Human & veterinary medicine Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 51 - 55
Main Authors:	Vigu, Alexandra L, Stanciu, Dorin, Sava, Sorina, Labunet, Anca, Burde, Alexandru V, Dascalu (Rusu, Monica L, Campian, Radu S
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Cluj-Napoca Bioflux SRL 01-06-2018
Subjects:	Age Dental schools Dentifrices Dentists Females Males Sex differences Students Studies Teeth China Romania
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Objective: To investigate inter-gender differences as they are reflected in the oral health related attitudes and behaviors. Material and method: This is a one time, transversal correlational study. 318 participants from Romania with no dental specific education took part in the research, well balanced between female (175 participants, 55.03%) and male (143 participants, 44.97%). The mean age of participants was 22.79±5.93 years, with mean age for females 23.26±6.36 years, and mean age for males 22.20±5.31 years. A Romanian translated and validated version of Hiroshima University Dental Behavior Inventory (HU-DBI) questionnaire was used to measure the respondents' behavior and attitudes regarding their oral health actions. Results: For 7 out 12 scored items, female participants performed better than male participants. The chi-square test analysis revealed significant differences only for one of the 12 HUDBI's scored items - item 15 "I put off going to dentist until I have a toothache" where the 'correct' answer was recorded for N = 94 (53.71%) in females and N = 60 (41.96%) in males - p=0.037. The smallest difference in percentages between females and males was discovered for item 11 "I think I can clean my teeth well without using toothpaste" where the correct answer was recorder only by N = 36 (11.32%) of the entire population with the females scoring N = 19 (10,86%) and males N = 17 (11.89%) - p=0.773. The totality of women 'correct' respondents across all 12 items represented 148 (47% of 318) as compared to only 76 (24% male respondents). Conclusion: Our study revealed high differences at item level "correct" responses, mildly favoring women with respect to displaying better oral health attitudes and behavior, but without statistically or clinically relevant gender differences.
ISSN:	2066-7655 2066-7663