Objectives:

To study the health literacy of 3rd-year students at the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the University of Lisbon and relate it to their demographic data, behaviors, self-perception, and oral-health status.

Methods:

This cross-sectional study included a questionnaire, an intraoral examination, and an interview. The questionnaire collected information about the demographics and behaviors of the students. The intraoral examination included the caries diagnosis according to the criteria of the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS II). The Portuguese version of the Newest Sign Vital instrument (NSV-Pt) was applied in the interview to study health literacy. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics and the chi-square, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis tests (α=0.05).

Results:

The sample consisted of 92 students. The mean of correct answers to the NSV-Pt was 4.87 (SD=1.15). No student had a high probability of limited health literacy, and 87.6% of the students showed adequate health literacy. There was a statistically significant association between health literacy and the frequency of visits to the oral-health consultation (p=0.04).

Conclusions:

Most students had adequate health literacy. Students who visited the oralhealth professional more often had worse levels of health literacy.

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