Prevalence of addictions and their relation to oral health in university students

Objectives: The objective of the research was to describe the state of oral health and the prevalence of addictions in students of Health Careers of the FASTA University..
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in 148 university students who entered different Health Careers of the FASTA University. Sample size was calculated using Epi InfoTM Version 7.1.5 using 95% confidence intervals, and subsequently adjusting sample size. Age group, sex, smoking, alcoholism, oral health were taken as variables. A voluntary questionnaire was applied with 14 questions and then the dental evaluation was carried out. Two standardized examiners in dental exams; prevalence of CPOD (CPO> 0), severity (DMFT> 3 and DMFT> 6). Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0, 95% CI, p<0.05, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient was evaluated.
Results: The minimum age was 19 and maximum 48, average 22.1 years, mode and median 20 years. Of the total sample, 43 students (29.1%) admitted having a smoking habit, while 91 students (61.5%) reported consuming alcohol at least once a week. Regarding oral health, there is a low CPOD, there are no significant differences between sex and age group (p <0.05). However, a positive correlation was observed between addictions and oral health.
Conclusions: From the processed sample, it can be concluded that a low CPOD may be present, the highest values were found in those with smoking and alcoholic habits (p <0.5), motivating the reflection of the generation of people for the educational community an activity planning that promoted healthy habits.