موظفي النجاح

نوع المنشور

بحث أصيل

المؤلفون

النص الكامل

Nutrition plays a key role in oral and dental health. Similarly, oral health affects nutrition status and diet intake. Consumption of

much cariogenic nutrients such as sugar affects dental and gum health.(e awareness of dietary practices that affect the oral health

is an essential component in the dental care system. (e knowledge of the dietary factors that affect the oral health is a major

component in the treatment plan. In this vein, this study was conducted to determine the level of awareness of nutrition information

affecting oral health among dental patients who visit the private and university dental clinics in West Bank, Palestine. A

total of 169 patients were invited to join the study and signed the consent form. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect the

required data which included patients’ sociodemographics, medical history, oral care practices, dietary practices, and oral healthrelated

nutritional awareness. Face and content validity were verified, followed by a pilot study to determine the questionnaire

reliability alpha, and the data were collected from October to November 2018. (e Construct Validation was done using the Rasch

measurement model, and the descriptive statistical analysis was done to determine the level of awareness and the difference among

the groups using SPSS version 21. (e total mean score of the nutrition awareness was (9.3 ± 2.8), with higher level of nutrition

awareness among females, and the highest score was 16 out of 17. (e good oral health condition was reported among 44%, fair

32%, poor 16%, and bad 10% while excellent oral health was reported among only 5% of the participants. (ere was no significant

relationship between level of nutritional awareness with economic status, level of education, or area of living. For oral health,

females showed significantly better oral and gum health levels (p < 0.05). (e overall level of nutrition knowledge among the

participants is insufficient. (ese results point to the need for oral health and nutrition educational courses and programs to

improve oral and nutritional awareness and knowledge among Palestinian people and

المجلة