1 research outputs found
Caries, oral hygiene status and dates consumption among Saudi female university students
No full textAuthors: Al Essa, Noura A., Al Mutairi, Manal A., Al Ohali, Hadeel M. From
Intern, King Saud University College of Dentistry
Authors: El Hejazi, Ahmed, Associate Professor, RDS Department, Operative Dentistry Division, King Saud University
College of Dentistry, Riyadh.
Author: Chohan, Arham, Lecturer, PDS Department, Pediatric Dentistry Division, King Saud University College of
Dentistry, RiyadhThe objectives of the present study were to determine the caries experience, oral hygiene
status and consumption of dates among Saudi female University students. A total of 406
female University students were examined for dental caries and oral hygiene. The information
about oral hygiene practices and consumption of dates was obtained through a selfadministered
questionnaire. The mean DMFT was 10.01 (SD 4.71) with a decay (D)
component of 5.87 (SD 4.28), missing (M) component of 0.83 (SD 1.44) and filled
component of 3.31 (SD 3.92). There was significant (p< .05) difference observed between the
mean DMFT scores of the students from various age groups. Only one-fourth (25.6%) of the
students had good oral hygiene. A positive correlation (p< .0001) was exhibited between the
mean DMFT scores and oral hygiene. Almost all (98.0%) students used brush to clean their
teeth. A majority of the students were cleaning their teeth twice (47.0%) or thrice (22.4%)
daily and only about one in ten (12.3%) students’ used miswak to clean their teeth. More than
three-fourth (81.0%) students were eating dates and about one-fourth (24.4%) of the students
were eating 5-10 dates per day. No significant (p> .05) correlation was observed between
caries and dates consumption. It was concluded that the caries prevalence and severity was
very high. Only small percentage of the students had good oral hygiene and eight in every ten
students was eating dates daily
