Acceso usuarios
Mohammed O. Ibrahim
Introduction: There is a few studies regarding problemsof oral health especially among adult groups in Jordan. Thisstudy was designed to use the Decayed, Missing and FilledTeeth (DMFT) index as an indicator for dental health status.Moreover, this index was used to find out the association be-tween dietary habits, eating practices and the dental healthstatus among Jordanians patients who had high DMFT index.Methods: A private clinic-based cross-sectional study wasconducted on 204 patients aged 18-64 years who visitedeleven private dental clinics in Jordan. DMFT index was theexamination tool of oral health status among the patients. Aquestionnaire was used during face-to-face interviews to col-lect data regarding socio-demographic characteristics, an-thropometric data, dental behavior, and dietary data. SPSS(version 23) was used to conduct the statistical analysis andthe statistical significance set at p-value <0.05.Results: The mean (SD) values DMFT index in the patientswas 14.8±1.3. About (62.25%) of the patients was classifiedas “High DMFT index” group which reflects index valueshigher than 13.9. Variables including age, gender, educationalstatus, frequency of tooth brushing per day, frequency of us-ing mouthwash per day, and smoking, were all used to adjustthe relative risk between dietary habits, eating practices andbeing classified within “High DMFT index” group. It was no-ticed that the higher frequency intake of soft drinks, candies,chocolate, citric juices, junk foods, Arabic sweets, and sweet-ened juices, the higher the odds of being classified within "High DMFT index” group.
Conclusion: Unfortunately, our study revealed that the av-erage DMFT index was very high. It is well-known that den-tal problems may affect patients throughout their lifetime.Therefore, the oral health status among Jordanians should beenhanced through making significant modifications in theirdental behavior, dietary habits, and eating practices.
