Relationship between oral health status and subjective oral malodor in public health students

Yeo-Jung Han   Sang-Eun Moon*   

Department of Dental Hygiene, Kwangju Women’s University

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze relationship between oral health status and subjective oral malodor awareness of public health students. Furthermore, this study aimed to recognize the importance of prevention and treatment of internal and external factors and to contribute to the correct oral health management behavior. Methods: The study subjects were 500 students from 5 health departments of 2 universities located in Jeollanamdo who participated in self-administered survey from September 1 to 15, 2014. For statistical analysis, SPSS 21.0 for Windows was used. Descriptive analysis and a Chi-square test were conducted to investigate the effects of general characteristics, health behavior, oral health behavior, and oral health status on subjective oral malodor awareness. Finally, to investigate the relationship between oral health status and subjective oral malodor awareness logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: Subjective oral malodor awareness was significantly higher in the group requiring dental care with the score of 1.63 (95% CI 1.00-2.65) compared to the group not requiring dental care. Subjective oral malodor awareness was significantly higher in the severe coated tongue group with the score of 5.31 (95% CI 1.45-19.40) and significantly higher in the moderate coated tongue group with the score of 2.56 (95% CI 1.61-4.08). Subjective oral malodor awareness was significantly higher in the often mouth breathing group with the score of 2.13 (95% CI 1.02-4.47) and significantly higher in the sometimes mouth breathing group with the score of 2.66 (95% CI 1.65-4.29). Conclusions: In order to prevent oral malodor, it is emphasized that regular dental checkups, proper brushing after the meal, and brushing of the tongue are necessary to remove the coated tongue. In addition, the use of supplementary oral care products is considered to be a meaningful oral health behavior.

Acknowledgements

본 연구는 2017년도 광주여자대학교 교내연구비 지원에 의하여 연구되었음.

Figures & Tables

Table 1. Subjective oral malodor related to the general characteristics Unit: N (%)