Home About us Editorial board Ahead of print Current issue Search Archives Submit article Instructions Subscribe Contacts Login 
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2015  |  Volume : 13  |  Issue : 3  |  Page : 328-330

Assessment of oral health literacy among patients attending Malabar dental college and research centre in Kerala: A cross sectional survey


1 Department of Public Health Dentistry, Government Dental College, Kottayam, Kerala, India
2 Department of Public Health Dentistry, Vydehi Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Correspondence Address:
B K Sujatha
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Vydehi Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, No. 82, EPIP Area, ITPL, Whitefield, Bengaluru, Karnataka
India
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/2319-5932.165291

Rights and Permissions

Introduction: Oral health literacy is relatively a new, but critical concept to decrease disparities and increase oral health for all. Low oral health literacy contributes to oral disease which results in increased cost for vulnerable population such as poor, those with low levels of education, minorities, and the elderly. Aim: To assess oral health literacy among patients attending Malabar dental college and research centre in Kerala. Materials and Methods: Health literacy in dentistry scale questionnaire with 29 items was administered by the investigator to collect data related to oral health literacy among 272 patients attending Malabar Dental College and Research Centre. The collected data were compiled and statistically analyzed using Chi-square test. Results: The oral health literacy was assessed based on the interquartile range, of 272 patients, 23.9% of patients had poor oral health literacy, 57% were found to have moderate oral health literacy, and 19.1% patients were found to have good oral health literacy. The results were significant at P < 0.001. Conclusion: Oral health literacy was found to be moderate among patients attending Malabar Dental College and Research Centre.


[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
Print this article     Email this article
 Next article
 Previous article
 Table of Contents

 Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
 Related articles
 Citation Manager
 Access Statistics
 Reader Comments
 Email Alert *
 Add to My List *
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed3252    
    Printed117    
    Emailed0    
    PDF Downloaded350    
    Comments [Add]    
    Cited by others 1    

Recommend this journal