Gender Differences in Oral Health Behavior and General Health Habits in an Adult Population.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate gender differences in oral health behavior and general health habits in adults. The subjects were 207 males and 196 females aged 20-64 yrs who were public officials in the city or town administrations in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The questionnaire survey included three items: (1) self assessment of oral health status, (2) oral health behavior and (3) general health habits. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test for differences of responses between males and females. The proportion of subjects with cognition of symptoms of oral disease ranged from 14.3 to 23.0%. The percentage of those who had not visited a dentist in the last year were 52.7% for males and 36.7% for females (p < 0.01). Subjects who brushed their teeth almost every day at bed time were 60.9% of males and 88.8% of females (p < 0.01). A comparison of the numbers of positive responses regarding general health habits found no differences in the distribution of general health habits score between males and females. Examining the relationship between oral health behavior and general health habits revealed that males with general habit high scores tended to have positive oral hygiene behavior. These results support the thesis that gender specificities in oral health depend on individual attitudes to oral health and dental utilization. In addition, understanding the cognitive factors of males and females would accelerate dental approaches to modifying oral health behavior of both groups, thus contributing to lifelong health maintenance.

Tooth Loss in Problem-oriented, Irregular, and Regular Attenders at Dental Offices

“…Male sex is a risk factor for tooth loss. Women have been reported to be more likely to adhere to appointments than men 11,12) , and have also been demonstrated to visit dental offices more frequently 15) . Demetriou et al 11) showed that a greater percentage of women demonstrated complete adherence to supportive periodontal therapy than men.…”

Higiene bucal en la población de San Francisco Antioquia y sus factores relacionados

“…Lo anterior tiene diferencias con un estudio realizado en la población universitaria de México, en el que se encontró que el 81,5% de los encuestados tenían un índice de higiene oral adecuada, mientras que en nuestro estudio solo el 27,6% de los encuestados registró una higiene oral adecuada [20], posiblemente por el nivel de estudios que tenían los participantes; nuestros resultados muestran diferencias estadísti-camente significativas en la higiene oral cuando se relaciona con el nivel de estudios. Respecto al sexo, en un estudio realizado en población escolar en el municipio de Jericó, Antioquia, se encontró que el promedio del ihos es mucho menor en mujeres (1,25) respecto a los hombres (1,50) y concuerda con nuestros resultados ya que estos nos permiten aseverar que los hombres poseen un menor grado de higiene en comparación con las mujeres, lo cual se explica por el interés que tienen las mujeres por el cuidado de su salud [21,22].…”

Number of Non-vital Teeth as Indicator of Tooth Loss during 10-year Maintenance: A Retrospective Study

“…Thus, there was no difference between our results and those of previous reports with regard to number of teeth lost and non-vital teeth. As for differences in distribution of number of non-vital teeth based on age and sex (see Table 3), women have been reported to visit dental clinics more frequently 12) . The present data, which were collected at baseline, also suggest that women seek dental treatment more often than men.…”