Oral health attitudes and behavior among dental students in Ajman, United Arab Emirates

The aim of this study was to identify the oral health attitudes and behavior among dental students and analyse the variations in oral health attitudes based on the level of education, United Arab Emirates. This study included 279 dental students. The Hiroshima University - Dental Behavior Inventory (HU-DBI) was used to assess oral health attitudes and behavior of the participants. Data were tabulated and analyzed by using Chi-square test, and statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Students from the higher years had better oral health attitudes, behavior, especially towards gingival health, oral hygiene practice, tooth brushing and visiting the dentist. In this study the overall knowledge of oral health was good, even though there were deficits in their knowledge in a few areas. The oral health attitudes and behavior of dental students improved with increasing level of education.