Comparison of tooth brushing related knowledge, attitude and health behavior as well as dental health status among boy and girl students in elementary schools in district 4 of Tehran in 2015

Background and aims: Assessment of oral health status is considered as one of the main criteria for evaluating the public health. Knowledge and attitude towards oral health behavior, especially brushing and gender differenceare factors influencing oral health. This study was aimed to compare tooth brushing related knowledge, attitude and health behavior as well as …. (DMFT) among girl and boy students in elementary schools in district 4 of Tehran in2015.Method: The present cross-sectional (descriptive and analytical) study was carried out among 408 girl and boy elementary students from six randomly selected schools in district 4 of Tehran, Iran. Two-stage cluster sampling was selected and employed. A valid and reliable researcher-… questionnaire was used for this study. Dental visits wereperformed on the basis of DMFT index and all students were assured of information confidentiality. The data were analyzed using SPSS (version 16) software.Results: In the current study, comparing female students with males showed that the mean scores of brushing knowledge, attitude and health behavior in girls was higher than boys and the difference was statistically significant (p=0.001). However, the observed mean DMFT difference between the girls and boys in this study was not significant (p>0.05). Furthermore, a strong and statistically significant relationship was noticed between frequency of brushing and DMFT in both sexes (p<0.05).Conclusion: Mean scores of knowledge, attitude and behavior in both sexes were fairly good and also better in female students than males. It was further found that boys and girls in our study can be, respectively, classified as low and very low mean DMFT groups based on World Health Organization classification. Therefore, appropriate educational interventions with more focus on the vulnerable group of boys are highly advocated in order to improve their knowledge and attitude. Key Words: Knowledge, Attitude, DMFT, Health behavior brushin