Gender differences in oral health attitudes and behaviour among Nigerian clinical dental students

Objective: This study aims to use the modified Hiroshima University Dental Behavior Inventory (HU-DBI) to determine the differences in oral health attitudes and behaviour between male and female clinical dental students at the clinical level in University of Benin.Method: This study included 141 clinical dental students made up of 85 males and 56 females of the University of Benin. Participation was voluntary and all participants remained anonymous. Demographic information was obtained including age, gender and years of study. The duration of study was from February to May 2010.A modified English version of HU-DBI survey which consists of 22 1temswith dichotomous responses (yes-no) was used in this study.Result: Of the total 154 clinical (4th, 5th and 6th years of study) dental students, a total of 141 clinical dental students participated in the study by completing the questionnaire giving a response rate of 91.56%. The age of the students ranged from 18 to 35 years with a mean age of 25.26 + 3.5 years. Statistically significant differences (p <0.05) were found between males and females dental students for items: 2 (I have been to a dentist office before), 14 (I worry about having bad breath), 17 (I eat a lot of refined sugar containing snacks in-between meals) and 19 (I worry about the colour of my teeth).The total mean score between male and female dental students was significant (P< 0.05).Conclusion: The results from this study were in agreement with studies in other countries showing that there are gender differences in some aspects of oral health attitudes and behaviour, and as a matter of fact, improving professional behaviour of the dental students is needed to be improved so as to improve their oral health attitude in order to serve as a positive model for their patients, families and friends. Key words: Oral health attitude, dental behaviour, dental student