Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul 31;7(1):28.
doi: 10.1038/s41405-021-00084-3.

Oral health and oral health behavior in young adults with caries disease

Jennie Hagman  1 , Ulla Wide  2 , Helene Werner  2 , Magnus Hakeberg  2
Affiliations

Oral health and oral health behavior in young adults with caries disease

Jennie Hagman et al. BDJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe and analyze oral health, oral health behaviors, and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in relation to the level of caries disease among caries-active young adults.

Material and methods: This study presents data from a sample of young adults (n = 135) with active caries disease who were enrolled in a clinical, randomized controlled trial. The independent variables of sociodemographics, oral health (gingivitis, plaque), oral health behaviors (such as toothbrushing, dental attendance, sugar-containing sweets and drinks), dental anxiety, self-rated oral health, and OHRQoL were collected. Multinomial logistic regression was used to simultaneously evaluate the associations between the independent variables and caries severity.

Results: Multinominal logistic regression showed that poor OHRQoL and gingivitis were associated with caries severity in a gradient fashion in accordance with caries disease activity. Also, irregular dental care and frequent consumption of sugary soda were significantly associated with very high caries severity.

Conclusions: The risk factors related to caries severity among young adults were poor OHRQoL, gingivitis, consumption of sugary soda and irregular dental care attendance, indicating the need for a combination of different interventions specifically health behavior change. Furthermore, these findings may contribute to identifying high caries-risk individuals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. World Health Organization. Oral Health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/oral-health (Accessed 2018).
    1. Sheiham A. & Conway D., Chestnutt I. 1.1 Impact of oral diseases and oral health inequalities In: Watt R. G., Listl S., Peres M., Heilmann A., (editors) Social Inequalities in Oral Health: From Evidence to Action. pp 4–5. UCL, (2015).
    1. Edman K, Ohrn K, Nordstrom B, Holmlund A. Prevalence of dental caries and influencing factors, time trends over a 30-year period in an adult population. Epidemiological studies between 1983 and 2013 in the county of Dalarna, Sweden. Acta Odontol. Scand. 2016;74:385–392. doi: 10.3109/00016357.2016.1163733. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Julihn A, Barr Agholme M, Grindefjord M, Modeer T. Risk factors and risk indicators associated with high caries experience in Swedish 19-year-olds. Acta Odontol. Scand. 2006;64:267–273. doi: 10.1080/00016350600613534. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Roberts-Thomson K, Stewart JF. Risk indicators of caries experience among young adults. Aust. Dent. J. 2008;53:122–127. doi: 10.1111/j.1834-7819.2008.00020.x. - DOI - PubMed