The Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study with Knowledge and Oral Health Care Behavior
Keywords:
Knowledge, behavior, oral health care, elderlyAbstract
Thailand is one of the world's countries where the population is ageing. We used a cross-sectional study design to investigate the elderly's oral health knowledge and practices. A total of 120 elderly were recruited from Sa Saming Subdistrict, Warin Chumrab District, Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand The participants completed a questionnaire to measure their oral health knowledge and habits. Descriptive statistics; frequency, percentage, average, and standard deviation were used in the data analysis. We found that most participants were female (59.20%), aged 70-75 years old (51.70%), the highest education in primary school (92.50%), worked in farmers (85.00%), an average monthly income of 1,000 Thai baths (70.80%) and had been elderly without prosthetic teeth (86.70%). A majority of participants (46.60%) reported their knowledge of oral health care at a moderate level (=0.66, S.D.=0.48). Participants knew that brushing their teeth was the way to prevent tooth decay (95.80 %). Most participants (55.00%) reported that their oral health care behavior was at a moderate level (=2.15, S.D.=0.87). The high-level behaviors of the participant were brushing their teeth with toothpaste that contains fluoride (=2.71, S.D.=0.62). Promoting oral health care knowledge and enhancing oral health care behaviors should be done regularly to ensure that the elderly maintain appropriate oral health practices.
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