Browsing by Subject "oral health literacy"

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    Association Between Somali Mothers' Oral Health Literacy and Their Children's Caries Experience in Minnesota
    (2019-07) Zeyer, Kylee
    ABSTRACT Objectives: Dental caries is a major oral health problem among U.S. immigrant children, and Minnesota is home to one of the largest Somali-American communities, but little is known about this population’s oral health and oral health literacy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between Somali mothers’ oral health literacy and their children’s caries experience in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas in Minnesota. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed. Data were extracted from a larger cross-sectional study consisting of 99 Somali mothers and 292 children from twelve Somali-owned daycare centers in 3 Minnesota cities. Participating mothers completed an oral health literacy survey (HeLD-14), and mothers and their children received oral screenings where caries experience was recorded using the dfs/DMFS caries indices. Results: Mean age in years was 34.3 for mothers and 6.4 for children. Mothers had moderate oral health literacy with a mean HeLD-14 score of 8.4. The children’s mean dfs score was 3.3, and their mean DMFS score was 0.8. The children’s caries was not associated with the mothers’ total oral health literacy score, although, statistically significant associations were found between 3 of 7 HeLD-14 subcategories: access to care, receptivity, and economic barriers. Conclusions: Somali children’s caries experience was similar to U.S.-born comparatives, but lower than African-American children of similar age. Given, the children’s below average caries experience and the mothers’ moderate level of oral health literacy, may be an indicator that this population does not suffer from oral health disparities related to the oral health literacy and caries experience of mother-child pairs. Key Words: Oral health literacy; Somali; Immigrant; Oral health; Oral health status; Caries experience; Children’s oral health.
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    A Pilot Study on Oral Health Literacy and Periodontal Health
    (2020-12) Olson, Alyssa
    ABSTRACTObjective: The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between functional oral health literacy (OHL) and periodontal disease as defined by the American Academy of Periodontology classification system. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on dental patients presenting to the Open Door Health Center in Mankato, MN. Oral health literacy was measured by using the Oral Health Literacy Adults Questionnaire (OHL-AQ). Periodontal health was measured by conducting a periodontal health assessment, using the new 2017 American Academy of Periodontology classification system (AAP). Additional demographic and health related information was collected. Results: This study found an association between oral health literacy and periodontal disease that was statistically significant. Smoking was found to be associated with periodontal disease staging and grading, and diabetes was found to be associated with the grading of gum disease. No associations were found between periodontal health and age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, insurance, or country of origin. Conclusion: This study found a statistically significant relationship between functional oral health literacy and periodontal health. In addition, participants who smoked were more likely to have periodontal disease and have more advanced staging and grading of the disease and those with diabetes were more likely to have advanced grading of periodontal disease. A larger study is needed to confirm the findings of this pilot study.