Objectives:

This study aimed to analyze the oral health attitudes and behaviors of dental students in the last year of the course, study their oral health and oral health self-perception, and associate attitudes and behaviors with the oral health condition.

Methods:

The study included students of the 5th-grade of the Master’s Degree in Dental Medicine of the Faculdade de Medicina Dentária da Universidade de Lisboa. Data were collected using a questionnaire about oral health attitudes and behaviors that included the Hiroshima University Dental Behavioral Inventory (HUDBI) and an oral examination to collect information about dental caries (ICCMS), oral hygiene level (DI-S), and gingival bleeding (CPI modified). Descriptive statistics were performed, and the Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman correlation tests were used (α=0.05).

Results:

The mean HUDBI was 9.20 (SD=1.34). Almost all students (97.8%) brushed their teeth twice a day, but only 23.9% used dental floss daily. Caries prevalence was 97.8%, and the mean DA-6MFT was 9.5 (SD=4.3). The oral hygiene level was excellent in 43.5% of the students. The frequency of gingival bleeding was 97.7%, and the mean CPI modified was 0.29 (SD=0.2). Positive associations were found between the consumption of sugary foods and D3-6MFT (p=0.05) and between the oral health self-perception and D3-6MFT (p=0.04).

Conclusions:

The students showed positive attitudes and behaviors and good indicators of oral hygiene and gingival bleeding, but the prevalence of caries was high.

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