Oral health status among newly arrived refugees in Germany: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: The objectives of this study were to determine the status of oral health among newly arrived refugees in Germany and to explore their knowledge, attitude and practices on oral hygiene. METHODS: All participants (n = 386) were adults, 18–60 years of age, coming from Syria and Iraq and registered as refugees in Germany within one year prior to the enrollment in the study. Clinical oral assessments in addition to a survey on knowledge, attitude and practice were carried out. The survey was conducted through a questionnaire translated into Arabic. RESULTS: Eighty seven point 5 % of the participants had untreated caries. The mean DMFT score was 6.38 with DT, MT and FT showing mean scores of 4.00, 1.46 and 0.92 respectively. Seventy nine percent had bacterial plaque in all six sextants, 60 % had calculus in at least three sextants and 6 % showed various magnitudes of enamel fluorosis. DMFT score was significantly associated with age (Regression Coefficient 0.031, P-value < 0.001) and with education (Regression Coefficient − 0.019, P-value 0.037) and females had significantly less missing teeth (Regression Coefficient-0.398, P-value 0.001) compared to males. The participants had in general high levels of knowledge and attitude on oral hygiene. The findings however showed a gap between their knowledge and practice. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show high prevalence of untreated caries and poor oral hygiene among newly arrived refugees in Germany. The study recommends to lay emphasis on motivation in oral health promotion campaigns among refugees and to provide them with adequate guidance, preferably in their native language, on how to access oral health care in the host country.