Influential Factors for the Oral Health practice of Dental Hygiene Students and Non-Dental Hygiene Students

Abstract The purpose of this study was to make a comparative analysis of the oral health practice between dental hygiene students and Non-Dental Hygiene students in an effort to shed light on the importance of oral health education and its implications for personnels responsible for oral health practice. Their oral health awareness was investigated, and what factors might affect their actual oral health practice was observed. An then a comparative analysis was conducted. Followings are the main results of this study. First, when the characteristics of the self-rated oral health of the college students were analyzed, the dental hygiene students were ahead of the other students who didn't major in dental hygiene in every factor including oral health concern(p<0.001), awareness of oral health importance(p<0.01) and self-perceived oral health status(p<0.01). Second, the dental hygiene students significantly excelled the other students in both the level of oral health awareness(p<0.001) and the level of oral health practice(p<0.001). The findings of the study showed that more oral health education experiences led to better oral health awareness and better oral health practice, and that better oral health awareness led to better oral health practice.