Caries, oral hygiene status and dates consumption among Saudi female university students

Authors: 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