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Revista Portuguesa de Estomatologia,
Medicina Dentária e Cirurgia Maxilofacial

rev port estomatol med dent cir maxilofac. 2018;59(1):18-23

Original research

Oral health behaviors and dental caries
in a sample of portuguese militaries

b
a,c
a
a,
Luís Azevedo *, David Martins , Joana Fialho , Nélio Veiga , André Correia a,c
a Institute of Health Sciences, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Viseu, Portugal
b CI&DETS, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal
c Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Health (CIIS), Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Viseu, Portugal

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Objectives: To determine the prevalence of dental caries and oral health behaviors in a sam-
Received 30 December 2017 ple of the Portuguese army.
Accepted 24 May 2018 Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of army soldiers
Available online 20 June 2018 of the Infantry Regiment no. 14 of Viseu, Portugal, using a questionnaire. The study involved
122 members of the armed forces, who were asked to complete a questionnaire autonomou-
Keywords: sly. The questionnaire enquired about general oral-health behaviors but focused mainly on:
Army personnel i) frequency of toothbrushing, ii) use of dental floss and iii) frequency of dental appoint-
Dental caries ments. It also asked about sociodemographic information, like age and gender. An intra-oral
Dental plaque observation was also conducted to determine the DMFT index and to record dental plaque
Oral health based on the Silness and Löe plaque index (1964).
Oral hygiene Results: The prevalence of dental caries was high (51.6%±7.4%; DMFT of 4.6±3.5). The most
prevalent score of the Silness and Löe plaque index was score 2 - visible plaque (58.2%).
Regarding oral hygiene habits, most of the sample reported brushing their teeth at least
twice a day (65.6%) and using fluoride toothpaste (64.8%). However, very few participants
(18%) used dental floss. More than 30% of the participants had not visited a dentist within
the previous year. Furthermore, 45.9% were current smokers.
Conclusion: Prevention programs and promoting actions for oral health with these specific
groups are important and should be adopted to reduce the prevalence of dental caries and
to increases the knowledge about oral-health behaviors. (Rev Port Estomatol Med Dent Cir
Maxilofac. 2018;59(1):18-23)
© 2018 Sociedade Portuguesa de Estomatologia e Medicina Dentária.
Publicado por SPEMD. Este é um artigo Open Access sob uma licença CC BY -NC -ND
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by -nc -nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author.
Correio eletrónico: luisazevedo.2005@gmail.com (Luís Azevedo).
http://doi.org/10.24873/j.rpemd.2018.06.217
1646-2890/© 2017 Sociedade Portuguesa de Estomatologia e Medicina Dentária. Published by SPEMD.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).