Dental Caries Pattern and Treatment Needs among Ugandan Adolescent Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Table 3

Bivariate and multivariate Poisson regression analysis of decayed teeth (DT) and independent variables among participants (N = 406).

Variable	DT	Unadjusted		Adjusted
	Mean (SD)	Rate ratio	95% CI	value	Rate ratio	95% CI	value
Gender
Female	1.79 (2.32)	1	1	1	1	1	1
Male	1.60 (2.13)	0.89	0.77–1.04	0.150	0.83	0.71–0 .97	0.017
Frequency of cleaning teeth
At least once a day	0.72 (2.26)	1	1	1	—	—	—
Never/occasionally	1.67 (2.04)	0.97	0.72–1.31	0.837	—	—	—
Perception of tooth status
Good	1.31 (1.56)	1	1	1	1	1	1
Average	1.82 (2.29)	1.39	1.17–1.65	<0.001	1.05	0.88–1.26	0.606
Poor	2.70 (3.38)	2.06	1.68–2.53	<0.001	1.46	1.17–1.82	0.001
Dental pain in the past 12 months
No	1.09 (1.43)	1	1	1	1	1	1
Yes	2.38 (2.72)	2.19	1.87–2.57	<0.001	1.87	1.55–2.26	0.000
Difficulty in chewing
No	1.30 (1.75)	1	1	1	1	1	1
Yes	2.29 (2.69)	1.77	1.52–2.05	<0.001	1.23	1.03–1.46	0.022

Rate ratio: the DT ratio of each group versus reference group; n: number; CI: confidence interval; values: Poisson analysis; 1: reference value.