TITLE:
Dietary Habits and Oral Hygiene Practice amongst Dental Students at the College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah University
AUTHORS:
Ebtissam M. Al-Madi, Manar AlJamie, Shaikha Al-Dukhail, Zakariya Mohammed, Neamat Hassan Abubakr
KEYWORDS:
Dietary Habits, Oral Hygiene Practice, Low pH Soft Drinks
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Stomatology,
Vol.6 No.1,
January
22,
2016
ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study was to assess the dietary habits and oral hygiene practice of dental students in a new dental school. A self-administered structured closed-ended questionnaire on demographic characteristics, medical history, oral hygiene and dietary habits was distributed to dental students. Results showed that One third of students indicated that they don’t consume low pH beverages (soft drinks) at all, while 48.9% drink a soft drink or two a day. Students took varying amount of time to consume their drinks. The majority of participants consumed citric juices, fruits and/or pickles at least once a day. 91.3% of students use either soft (41.8%) or medium (49.5%) toothbrush. Only a fifth (16.9%) of the students brush their teeth after drinking soft drinks and 58.2% brush their teeth after vomiting. In conclusion, young adults need to be aware about their dietary habits & oral hygiene, and also a proper dental health program needs to be applied.