Oral Health Behavior among School Children in Saudi Arabia - Coursework Example

of ORAL HEALTH BEHAVIOR AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN IN SAUDIARABIA Oral health is an important and essential part of our body, thus all individuals should take care of this human body as well because a mouth is such a human organ that links the entire human body. Due to this everyone should adopt healthy and appropriate behaviors and adopt such habits that would promote good health. Among all the age groups school life holds the most prestige and importance thus all the precautionary measures should be taken from this age. This report is divided into five sections, in the first section introduction of the topic is given, then in the second section various oral health behaviors are indicated that are present among the children today. Further in third section, various oral health inequalities are mentioned, while in forth section oral health in Saudi Arabia and in the world is mentioned and finally in the end conclusion is given. This paper is adopting a secondary research methodology, i.e. all the data collected have been from published articles, magazines, books, journals and newspaper articles. Key Words: Oral Health Behavior, Saudi Arabia, Children, Inequalities. Introduction Oral health is an important part of the human body and thus its care is equally important than as compared to any other body part. Just as a healthy body contributes in creating a sound mind, similarly oral health is essential in maintaining a healthy body because oral health and a healthy body has a positive connection with each other. A human body is one complete link if one problem occurs in one part of the body the other parts are affected as well. According to Surgeon David, oral health has a strong connection with other diseases, because a human mouth is the main portal of the human body, thus the bacteria which is present in mouth causes and creates other different systematic conditions (Donaghy, 2006). There have been cases when a simple tooth ache problem becomes so complex with the passage of time that its treatment either becomes extremely complex or results in life taking. Oral health diseases have lead to serious issues such as premature deaths, unhealthy child births, lung diseases, heart stokes, diabetes and cancer as well. Thus all doctors’ emphasis on the well being, cleanliness and proper care should be taken of teeth and gums (Donaghy, 2006). Even though the awareness programs have created a lot of awareness among the general public regarding oral health, but still today majority of the population is still lacking behind. This behavior pattern is seen in both the developed and developing nations. Even though oral health diseases have been encountered in developed nations but the intense situation is much higher in developing nations such as Africa. One of the major reasons for this inequality is the lack of knowledge and awareness among the general population. Oral health issues are seen among all the age groups, from the children to aged. But most of the oral health problems start from the early child hood, thus proper care should be taken from the scratch. Oral Health Behavior Among The Children Oral health issues and diseases are seen not only in elders but it is seen in children as well and mostly children are mostly suffered with oral health related problems. Oral health inequality causes an adverse affect on their education, as the intense pain affects their overall health and thus their concentration level and education is extremely affected. It has been researched that oral health problems are more existent in children than as compared to other primary diseases such as asthma and fever. As tooth decay is seven times more prevalent in the children than fever and five times more than asthma. Not only are the children faced with severe times but elders are also affected severely, as professional and business men not only are their health affected but it causes an affect on the productivity of the individuals. Generally individuals are reluctant in getting their oral problems cured because of the general cost associated with oral health, i.e. oral health issues are expensive to cure. The cost factor is the biggest factor for individual’s unwillingness all over the world. It has been researched that that children alone account to a large population who experience tooth decay, gum infections and gravities. Further, the report emphasized that children who experience tooth or oral health issues in their child hood often experience problems even in their adult life. So to prevent bad tooth decay preventions should be made and due to this a child should establish good habits in terms of its diet and should take proper precautionary measures from its early age (Antunes, Narvai &Nugent, 2004). All around the world most of the dental problems arise due to four major behavior factors, such as less frequency of tooth brushing, high consumption of sweets, low intake of fluoride (water fluoridation or fluoride tooth pastes) and Xylitol chewing gum (Laiho, Honkala, Nyyssonen, 1991). One of the most preventive measures in oral health diseases among the children is making a habit of tooth brushing. According to different researches conducted frequent tooth brushing can eliminate the chances of oral related diseases such as chronic periodontitis and caries. This trend was seen in most of the developing countries where the general knowledge about oral health is more. Within these developed countries such as European and North America it is seen that 16-80 percent of the boys in school life brush their teeth while 26-89 percent of the girls adopts this habit. This states that girls brush their teeth more frequently than as compared to boys. Further it is also seen that those mothers play an important role in creating awareness and increase the frequency of dental care among the children. Those mothers who have a higher level of schooling, those who have a positive attitude towards oral health and dental care, and those who mothers who themselves brush their teeth on regular basis their children also follow the similar trend. This concludes that positive attitude of mothers towards oral health care results in high frequency of their children brushing their teeth regularly and taking dental care and precautionary methods (Sanchez, Solis, Maupome Et. al, 2008). Oral Health Inequalities in Children But in different parts of the world there is not even the basic knowledge and awareness among the school children thus these kids face a lot of oral health problems. According to the study conducted in UK, Children Health Survey (2003), alone in UK 60 percent of five year old and eight year old primary students in the deprived areas accounted to 60 percent and 70 percent of tooth decay in their primary milk teeth. While, according to another survey children of age range 1-4 years were facing oral health inequalities as 40 % of the manual social class children faced decay problems while in the non manual areas oral health diseases were only 16% (Watt & Sheiham, 1999). But there are severe periodontal diseases present in children of Asian and African Caribbean as compared to other developed countries. From the basic knowledge to dental cares people in Africa lacked behind. According to study conducted, level of oral health knowledge and attitude of self care was as low to 36% among the children of age 12 years while only 57% of the population of 35-44 years carried tooth cleaning on regular basis. Further, only 9% of the children (12 years) use fluoride toothpastes and 57% of the children were not even aware that sugary products cause tooth decay. 64% of the children instead of using tooth brushes tend to use traditional chewing sticks for cleaning their teeth. Due to these poor health practices they experience poor oral heath conditions (Varenne, Petersen & Ouattara, 2006). Oral Health in Saudi Arabia According to different researches conducted Saudi Arabia, only a small proportion of the general public does not perform oral health precautionary measures this trend is seen among both all the age groups, both the children and the adults. The research indicated that approximately 94.9% of the true population of 18 years and above brushed their teeth regularly, where 36.8 % brushed twice a day, 19% once a day and 21 % brushed more than two times a day. Among this population, 93.7 % used toothpaste with the brush while only a minor population of 6.3% used other methods of cleaning. Similarly, a positive trend was seen in dental checkups, where 70 % of the population visited dentists, but among this number only 15 % were those who has their regular check ups every six months. But flossing is not very common as only 23.6% of the group flossed and only once or twice a week. But only 30.2 % of the population used all the three preventive measures such as brushing, flossing and checkups. Further, apart from tooth pastes, citizens of Saudi Arabia also use mouth wash, tooth pick & Miswak for oral Hygiene (Jamjoum, 2001). Similarly, when a research was conducted among the students of intermediate and high schools their ages ranging from 12-18 years somewhat same trend were seen among the younger generation as well. As mentioned earlier the main factors of oral health behavior is the awareness and knowledge, and this is the first step to healthiness. Thus they the younger population of Saudi Arabia are completely aware of dental measures as 87.1 % children knew that brushing teeth helps in preventing periodontal diseases. Further, just like other parts of the world females used brushing and flossing more often as compared to the males while males used miswak more often. Using of Miswak is not prevalent in other parts of the world but Saudi Arabia citizens follow this in their culture and now it has become their habit. But usage of Miswak is not only more prevalent among the male population but also among the governmental school students. While the private schooling kids use tooth brushing and flossing (Farsi, 2004). While another study carried in Saudi Arabia emphasized on implementation of proper oral health programmes because even at the age and 12 years old, children experienced dental carries. A mean DMFT score of 6.4 was examined among 6 year old children and 2.9 DMFT score was among 12 years old children. The most obvious reason for the dental carries was poor oral hygiene habits and high consumption of sugar. Even though the mothers and teachers both had knowledge and positive attitude but still dental caries are present among the school children ( Al, Tamimi & Petersen, 1998). All the teachers in the primary school believe that not only good dental health is important for general health and regular check ups should also be carried in maintaining good dental health. Further the teachers also favored the tooth cleaning tools both tooth brush and Miswak. And thus 97.4 % of the teachers suggested that dental health lectures held high importance and should be included in the school hemisphere. Thus the result concluded that dental caries were present in the primary school children as well. As the mean decay component of the primary teeth was 4.9, missing component was 1.1 and filled component was 0.3 out of total sample 6.3. While among the mean component of permanent teeth, decay component had the major component of 1.5 out of total sample of 1.6. (Wyne, Al- Ghorabi, Al- Asiri, et al, 2002). Due to this WTO has conducted various researches and has also adopted various programmes in catering to the dental caries among the children and the younger population. In 2002, health education program was conducted in Saudi Arabia by WTO to raise awareness of the school children of 8-10 years. Thus to prevail a healthy oral and dental environment, more programs should be implemented in different regions of Saudi Arabia. Conclusion Oral health behaviors and oral health conditions are better of in Saudi Arabia as compared to the developing nations. But in Saudi Arabia a new pattern and trend is seen which is not practiced in other parts of the world as most of the citizens of Saudi Arabia use Miswak (herb) instead of fluoride tooth pastes. This herb is extremely useful for gums and teeth and it is in their culture to use this every morning. But the trend is changing in the urban areas where they use brushing, flossing and dental care treatments in maintaining oral health. But flossing is not a very common dental practice among the children and adults both. Even though the elder population still has a more awareness but the children still need to gain more information regarding oral health issues. REFERENCES Antunes, Jose Leopol, Doferreira, Narvai, Paulo Capal, & Nugent Zoann Jane (2004), Measuring Inequalities In The Distribution Of Dental Caries, Community Dent Oral Epidemical; 32; 41-8. Donaghy J., (2006), Oral Health, http://www.erpho.org.uk/topics/oral_health/#3 Laiho, Marja, Honkala, Eino & Nyyssonen, Viljo, 1991, Factors Behind Oral Health Behavior, Health Education Research, Vol 6, No. 4, 455-463, Accessed January 21, 2010, from http://her.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/6/4/455 Varenne, Benoit, Petersen, Poul Erik & Ouattara, Seydou, 2006, Oral Health Behavior Of Children And Adults In Urban And Rural Areas Of Burkina Faso, Africa, International Dental Journal 56, 61-70. Accessed January 21, 2010, from http://www.who.int/oral_health/events/IDJ-06.pdf Jamjoom, Hanna M, 2001, Preventive Oral Health Knowledge And Practice In Jeddah , Saudi Arabia, Journal Of King Abdulaziz University, Medical Sciences, Vol 9. Al-Tamimi, S, Peterson, PE, 1998, Oral Health Situation Of Schoolchildren, Mothers And School Teachers In Saudi Arabia, Accessed January 21, 2010, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9779097 Wyne, Amjad H, Al-Ghorabi, Bandar M, Al-Asiri, Yahia &Khan, Nazeer B, 2002, Caries Prevalence In Saudi Primary Schoolchildren Of Riyadh, Saudi Medical Journal, Accessed January 21, 2010, from http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=13460023 Farsi, JMA, 2004, Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior Among Saudi Schools, Accessed January 21, 2010, from http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0300571203001398 Watt, R and Sheiham, A. (1999), Inequalities in Oral Health: A Review Of The Evidence And Recommendations For Action Sanchez, Ana Alicia, Solis, Carlo Eduardo, et al, 2008, Socio-Behavioral Factors Influencing Tooth Brush Frequency among School Children, Accessed January 21, 2010, from http://jada.ada.org/cgi/reprint/139/6/743 Read More