A Study on the Oral Health and Oral-Health Care of Some Health-Related and Health-Unrelated Majors

일부 보건과 비보건계열 대학생의 구강보건 행태 및 관리수준에 관한 비교조사연구

The purpose of this study was to examine the oral health awareness and oral health care of health-related and health-unrelated majors in an attempt to stress the importance of oral health education and boost the efficiency of oral health care. The subjects in this study were 363 college students. Out of the selected students, 174 were health-related majors, and 189 weren't. After a survey was conducted, the collected data were analyzed for the purpose of comparison, and the following findings were given: 1. Concerning daily mean toothbrushing frequency, the largest number of the male students who accounted for 55.2 percent brushed their teeth once a day on average, and the greatest number of the female students who represented 52.9 percent did that twice a day. As for the influence of their major, the largest group of the health-related majors who numbered 89(51.1%) brushed their teeth twice a day, and the greatest group of the health-unrelated majors who numbered 93(49.2%) did that once a day. The gaps between them were statistically significant(p<0.05). 2. As to the length of toothbrushing time by gender, it took more than two or three minutes for the largest groups of the male and female students that respectively numbered 96(76.8%) and 184(77.3%) to do toothbrushing(p<0.01). The greatest groups of the male and female students that respectively numbered 72(57.6%) and 183(76.9%) brushed their teeth after meals. 3. In regard to oral hygiene supplies, the largest groups of the health-related and health-unrelated majors that respectively numbered 78(44.8%) and 115(60.8%) had chewing gum and candy with them. As to the use of oral hygiene supplies, 99 health-related majors(56.9%) and 133 health-unrelated majors(70.4%) didn't put oral hygiene supplies to use. Thus, the use of oral hygiene supplies was statistically less common among the health-unrelated majors, and the gap between the two was significant(p<0.01). 4. As for health-related concern by gender, the largest group of the male students that numbered 56(44.8%) showed the most interest in preventing dental caries, and the greatest group of the female students that numbered 103(43.3%) were most concerned about tooth whitening. The gap between the male and female students was statistically significant(p<0.05), but the track of their major made no statistically significant difference to that. 5. Regarding the experience and awareness of scaling, the largest number of the students never got their teeth scaled regardless of gender and major, and the greatest group didn't care about scaling irrespective of gender and major, either, though they considered it advisable to do.