| Abstract [eng] |
Relevance of the problem and aim of the work: Appropriate health related behaviors formed at an early age reduce the risk of developing various diseases. University and college students represent a large part of the young adult’s population, so it is relevant to find out how this group of individuals views their lifestyle and how it may affect the prevalence of various oral and dental diseases. The aim of the work – find out the lifestyle characteristics of students studying in Vilnius and their influence on oral health. Material and the methods: The survey included I – VI year students from different faculties and II – V year dentistry students from VU. The subjects had to fill out an anonymous electronic questionnaire consisting of 25 questions. A total of 100 people participated in the survey. Statistical data analysis was performed using MS Excel 2016 and IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0 software package. The difference was considered statistically significant when p<0,05. Results: Most of the respondents visit fast food restaurants once a month, while 17% do not visit at all. Respondents who ate there at least once a week were more likely to visit the dentist and experience toothache than those who did not eat fast food at all (p<0.05). Visiting these restaurants at least once a week or several times a month also had an effect on the formation of dental plaque compared to the results obtained for subjects who did not eat this food (p<0.05). 19.4% of dentistry students do not snack at all and 11.6% students of other study programs. A statistically significant difference in the frequency of gingival bleeding was observed between students who snacked 4 times a day or more and those who did not snack (p<0.05). VU MF OI students rated their lifestyle habits better than students of other study programs. It was found that statistically significantly more students of other study programs compared to dentistry students experience more frequent gum bleeding and notice more plaque on the surfaces of their teeth (p<0.05). Conclusions: Dentistry students have a healthier lifestyle than students of other study programs. Subjects who are studying dentistry were less likely to experience problems related to oral health. Oral health is most negatively affected by frequent snacking and eating at fast food restaurants. Keywords: eating habits, smoking, alcohol, oral health. |
