Oral Health Knowledge and Behavior among Adults in the United Arab Emirates

Table 1

Mean oral health knowledge scores for all questions answered by the participants.

Question No.	Knowledge variables for the participants	Observations	Mean	SD
17	Smoking can worsen gum disease and its associated problems, such as; chronic dry mouth and tooth decay	629	0.94	0.24
16	You should keep regular twice-yearly dental appointments	630	0.91	0.29
6	Bleeding gums and red, swollen, or tender gums are signs of gingivitis; and/or gum disease	624	0.87	0.33
7	Gum disease can lead to loss of teeth	625	0.82	0.39
5	Diabetes can make teeth and gum worse	624	0.77	0.42
15	Those who already have periodontitis should be concerned about their; increased risk of developing serious complications from diabetes, including heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease, among others	615	0.74	0.44
2	People with diabetes are at a higher risk to have gum disease	625	0.73	0.45
1	People with diabetes are at a higher risk to have mouth infection	626	0.71	0.45
3	People with dry mouth are at a higher risk to have mouth ulcers	621	0.66	0.47
4	People with dry mouth are at a higher risk to have tooth decay	620	0.55	0.50
12	You may not be able to tell that you have serious gum disease	621	0.47	0.50
14	Gum disease is often painless	614	0.45	0.50
8	Brushing once a day for four minutes is sufficient to clean the mouth	626	0.44	0.50
10	Poorly controlled blood glucose will not affect developing gum disease	619	0.41	0.49
13	The first stage of gum disease is called periodontitis	449	0.40	0.49
11	You do not need to tell your dentist that you have diabetes	626	0.36	0.48
9	The only problem affecting gums and teeth for people with diabetes is; gum disease	624	0.29	0.45
Combined Oral Health Knowledge score		428	10.50	2.36