Influence of Lifestyle on Dental Health Behavior

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle is a general way of living, which is based on the interplay between living conditions, and individual patterns of behavior as determined by socio-cultural factors, and personal characteristics. There is a paucity of studies assessing the role of various factors, including lifestyle, on the dental health behavior. The present study aims to determine the factors that influence the dental health behavior among a subgroup of adult patients attending a tertiary care center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaires were distributed to a convenient sample of 300 individuals, which gathered information on the socio-demographic data, lifestyle and dental health behaviors. Bivariate analyses were used to explore the associations between each of the covariates and p-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Multivariate logistic regression model was built using backward stepwise method for the dependent variable ‘dental behavior’. RESULTS: Of the 300 questionnaires that were distributed, 279 were returned completed (response rate = 93%). The majority of our samples were Saudis (73.1%) and females (54.1%), with more than half the respondents having completed baccalaureate degree (55.2%) and about a quarter with either Masters or PhD. The mean age ± SD of the respondents was 35 ± 9.1 and the median age of ‘32 years’ was used to categorize the age (≤32 and > 32). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender (OR(a) = 2.84; 95% CI: 1.63–4.95), age (OR(a) = 0.51; 95% CI: 0.3–0.87) and lifestyle (OR(a) = 1.4; 95% CI: 1.18–1.68) were independently associated with dental behavior after adjusting for all the other variables. Age, gender and nationality were also found to be significantly associated with lifestyle (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Older adults, women and individuals with a healthy lifestyle were found to be significantly associated with positive dental behaviors.