1Senior Lecturer, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, K M Shah Dental College and Hospital, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Deemed to be University, Vadodara. Email: tarangmehta111@gmail.com
2Faculty of Dentistry, SEGi University, Selangor, Malaysia. Email: reachdocpriya@rediffmail.com
3MDS, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Government Dental College and Hospital, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India. Email: drbharath45@gmail.com
4*MDS, Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontology, Government Dental College and Hospital, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India. Email: hitesh.desarda@gmail.com
5MDS, Reader, JSS Dental College and Hospital, Mysore. Email: drvidyapd77@gmail.com
6Dean, Government Dental College and Hospital, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India. Email: drjagdish.v@rediffmail.com
An individual's health, health behaviour, and health outcomes have all been proven to be strongly predicted by their level of health literacy. Low literacy has been attributed to concerns with preventative care, delayed medical diagnoses, inadequate compliance to medical instructions, poor self-management abilities, increased mortality risks, poor health outcomes, and increased health-care expenses which are contraindicating towards sustainable developmental goal-3. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between oral health literacy (OHL) and oral health status among the dental patients.
Methods: A convenience sample of participants was obtained from dental patients who volunteered at the Government Dental College and Hospital. A data collecting form was used to gather information on participants demographics, Socioeconomic status, and smoking history. Data on patients' periodontal and caries risk assessment, caries experience, and periodontal condition was obtained from their dental records. The Comprehensive Measure of Oral Health Knowledge (CMOHK) was used to assess oral health literacy. The median CMOHK score of 15 was used to divide the sample into two groups, limited OHL (≤16) and adequate OHL (>16).
Results: Data from 300 respondents had been analyzed. More than half of the participants were women (57.33%). The average age of the participants was 42.3 years [SD 14.2]. Subjects with limited OHL showed substantially higher mean values for missing teeth (p < 0.05) and lower mean values for filled teeth (p < 0.05) compared to those with adequate OHL. Subjects with low OHL exhibited a significantly higher percentage of severe periodontitis than those with adequate OHL (p = 0.04).
Conclusion: Subjects with lower OHL levels exhibited poorer periodontal health. Improving patients' OHL could contribute to increase medicinal adherence, self-management abilities, and overall treatment outcomes.
Keywords: NA
How to cite this article: Mehta TK, Priyadarshini HR, Shivkumar B, Desarda HM, Vidya Priyadarshini, Vathar JB. Predictors of Periodontal Status and Caries: The Role of Patient Education and Oral Health Literacy on Disease Outcome and Treatment. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(3): 76-80. DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.3.10
Source of support: Nil.
Conflict of interest: None