Behavioral dental science. Part VIII. The dentist's rating and adolescents' perceptions of oral health

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first objective was to measure the periodontal status and perceptions of oral health in adolescents. The second objective was to determine the effects that a program of dental health education would have on their periodontal status and perceptions of oral health. The dental health education with a 90-minute lecture had been given to eleventh-grade students (352) in the previous year. The dental health education program was not carried out in tenth-grade students (442) yet. The oral examination was performed by a dentist for both grades. The examination time was about ten seconds per person. The students' periodontal status was scored as "excellent (+2)," "good (+1)," "questionable (0)," "poor (-1)," or "very poor (-2)" according to the criteria of an Oral Rating Index (ORI) System proposed by the present authors. The level of students' perceptions was assessed by the cognition score of our dental health test (10 items concerning dental attitudes and behavior). Main results were as follows: 1. Only 6% of the 10-th grade students were judged as having "excellent (+2)" oral health. Thirty-six percent were "very poor (-2)" or "poor (-1)" periodontal status. 2. The mean cognition score and the mean ORI score of the 11-th grade students were significantly greater for each sex group than those of the 10-th grade students. 3. The cognition score showed a clear relationship to the ORI score in each grade and in all. The behavioral component of the cognition score was more closely related to the ORI score. These findings suggest that the dental health education contributes to the improvement of periodontal status as well as that of perceptions. Furthermore, the ORI may be utilized for a screening system to evaluate adolescents' periodontal status quickly and effectively.