Oral Health Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Among University Students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among a sample of senior students at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), and to assess differences among these factors between genders. METHODS: A total of 1177 senior university students at KAU were included in this cross-sectional study. Participants were selected by stratified random sampling. KAU has three main streams categorized by field of study. One faculty was randomly selected from each stream. Information regarding oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors was collected with a validated self-administered questionnaire. A knowledge score was calculated, and predictors of oral health knowledge were assessed by linear regression. RESULTS: In general, the mean oral health knowledge score of females (8.1 ± 1.8) was significantly higher than that of males (7.2 ± 2.1) out of 13. Relative to males, females reported a greater frequency of teeth cleaning and of using a toothbrush with proper technique (p < 0.001). Females were also more likely to have ever visited a dentist than males (95% and 86%, respectively). The linear regression model revealed that students in non-medical faculties and those who were not shown how to brush their teeth by a dentist had lower oral health knowledge scores, than their counterparts. Students older than 22 years and females were more likely to have higher oral health knowledge scores than were their counterparts. CONCLUSION: Oral health knowledge was relatively low among the university students, but females showed better oral health knowledge and behaviors than males did.