Methods: Nationally representative sample of schoolchildren (n=1,292) at the age of 13 years (SD±1.04) participated in this study by filling a structured questionnaire anonymously in the school classrooms. The questionnaire of the WHO Collaborative (HBSC) study was used after modifying it for the Kuwaiti situation. The Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Dentistry, Kuwait University approved the study. Variables for oral health-related habits included: eating or drinking sugar-containing products, smoking tobacco, and visiting a dentist. Chi-square tests and logistic regression model were used in the analyses.
Results: Smoking tobacco (ever tried) and drinking sugared tea were statistically significantly associated with unfavorable toothbrushing: Children who had never tried tobacco (P<0.001) and did not drink sugared tea on a daily basis (P=0.001) brushed their teeth more frequently. More-than-once-a-day toothbrushing was significantly more common among girls (P<0.001), among children who performed very well at school (P<0.001), whose family was financially well-off (P<0.001), if father (P=0.038) or mother (P=0.003) had university education, and who were Kuwaitis (P=0.017). In the logistic model, the strongest predictors for twice-a-day toothbrushing were good financial status of the family (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.438–3.266) and female gender (2.1; 1.617–2.793), following by very good school performance (1.8; 1.269–2.555) and never tried smoking (1.6; 1.045–2.551).
Conclusions: Toothbrushing of schoolchildren was more associated with socio-demographic and -economic factors than other oral health-related habits. When controlling all the background variables, only smoking tobacco had a significant association with toothbrushing frequency.
Acknowledgements: This study was supported by Kuwait University Research Grant No. [DD1/02].