Oral health self-perception among adults at a primary healthcare unit

Resumo

Oral health self-perception is the individual assessment
of the oral conditions. Objective: To evaluate the oral health selfperception of adults and the factors that influence this perception.
Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted
at a primary healthcare unit in São Luís, Maranhão. Data were
collected through the administration of a not validated questionnaire
and a clinical examination at the dental office. The outcome was
oral health self-perception and the independent variables were age,
gender, ethnicity, marital status, schooling, monthly household
income, dental treatment, the conclusion of treatment, last type of
service used, toothache in the previous six months, untreated dental
caries, missing teeth, the DMFT index, root caries and removable
partial denture. Descriptive statistics and the chi-square tests were
performed with a 5% level of significance. Results: The sample was
composed by 129 adults aged 25 to 55 years. The female gender
(80.6%), brown skin color (62.8%) and low income (55.8%) were
the most prevalent independent variables. Ninety-three percent of
the sample had undergone some type of dental treatment, but only
36.4% concluded treatment. Seventy-nine percent perceived their
oral health as negative. No significant associations were found
between a negative self-perception and the independent variables
analyzed. Conclusion: Most of surveyed individuals had a negative
self-perception of their oral health, however, the perception was not
associated with any of the exploratory variables.