Determinants of preventive oral health behaviour among undergraduate dental students in selected Nigerian Universities

Abstract

Objective: Identification of factors influencing oral health behaviour among dental students in Nigerian Universities.

Methods: The study was an analytical cross sectional survey involving the use of a multi-stage sampling technique to select 812 undergraduate dental students from 6 institutions: University of Benin, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Port Harcourt and Bayero University, Kano. Information was collected using a well-structured, self-administered questionnaire. The outcome variable was oral health behaviour and explanatory variables include socio-demographic factors (sex, age, study location, study level, father’s occupation, mother’s occupation, highest educational level of father and highest educational level of mother), as well as oral health-related knowledge and attitudes.

Chi-square test was used to investigate associations between categorical variables while variables significant in the bivariate analysis were entered into binary logistic regression model to further predict the strength of the association at 5% level of significance.

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 22.0±3.0 years. About 15% of the students were in year-1. The mean knowledge, attitude and practice scores were 15.0±3.6, 10±1.8 and 8.7±1.9 respectively.

The student’s oral health behaviour was influenced by their age, study level and knowledge of oral health. Over 75% of the respondents that were 20 years and above had good oral health behaviour whereas below 70% of those that were under 20 years had good oral health behaviour (p=0.04). Over 91% of the respondents that were in year-6 had good oral health behaviour whereas below 78% each of those that were in years 1 to 5 had good oral health behaviour (p<0.0001). About 80% of the respondents that had good knowledge of oral health had good oral health practices, 65% of those that had fair knowledge of oral health had good oral health practices and 76% of those that had poor knowledge of oral health had good oral health practices (p<0.0001).

Those in 200 level were 7 times less likely to practice good oral health compared to the 600 level students (OR = 0.14, 95% CI = 0.06 – 0.34). Those in 400 level were 5.3 times less likely to practice good oral health compared to the 600 level students (OR = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.08 – 0.41).

Conclusion: The knowledge of oral health and the attitudes toward oral health among the Nigerian undergraduate dental students were good, but their oral health behaviour was only just fair. Oral health behaviour was significantly influenced by age, study level and knowledge of oral health. The most important determinant of oral health behaviour was their study level. As part of their curriculum therefore, dental students should start learning about preventive aspects of oral health as early as their first year in the University.

Keywords: Oral health behaviour, Determinants, Undergraduate dental students, Nigeria