Socio-demographic factors influencing Preventive Dental Behaviours in an Adult Dentate population: A questionnaire based survey

Good oral health can be achieved by preventive dental behaviours such as regular dental visits as well as practising adequate selfcare by means of proper and frequent tooth brushing methods. OBJECTIVES: To correlate the influence of socio-economic parameters (occupation, education and income) according to modified Kuppuswamy's scale on preventive dental behaviours such as frequency of dental visits and tooth brushing with paste. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire based cross sectional survey was conducted to determine the influence of socio- economic status on Dental visits and frequency of tooth brushing in patients visiting the O.P.D ( Out Patient Department) at I.T.S Dental College, Greater Noida. A total of 327 patients from 18 to 74 years were included from both the genders. A fifteen item closed ended questionnaire was prepared, which had information regarding the Chief complaint along with Age, Gender, Socioeconomic Status, intervals of dental visits and frequency of brushing. Kuppuswamy's socioeconomic classification, which includes monthly income, education level and occupation, was used to classify the socioeconomic status (SES) of the patients. RESULTS:There was no statistically significant difference reported between various levels of education, socio-economic status and gender when correlated with the frequency of dental visits. However, the results show that with increase in the level of education and socio-economic status the frequency of tooth brushing was positively correlated. CONCLUSION: The results of our study suggest that groups with low education and socio-economic status are important targets to enhance dental preventive behaviours.