A study relationship between dental health perception and practice of college students

Objectives : The purpose of the study was to provide the development of oral health promotion programs for the college students to improve oral health behavior. Methods : Subjects were 350 college students in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do from March to June, 2011. Except 9 incomplete copies, 341 data were analyzed. Results : 1. The college students got a mean of 4.08 in oral health awareness, and 3.54 in oral health care. 2. The correlation coefficient of the two was 0.618. Higher oral health awareness led to oral health care improvement (p<0.001). 3. Oral health awareness made a 38.1% prediction of oral health care. A rise of one score in oral health awareness was concurrent with a rise of 0.532 score in oral health care. Conclusions : Higher oral health awareness led to oral health care improvement, and that those who received oral health education tended to have higher awareness and care for oral health care.