Lifestyle of Dental Professions in Japan: A Pilot Study

Objectives: With aging of the population, clinical dentistry is required to support not only oral health but systemic health. To comply such a social request, dental professions have to be a good example with healthy lifestyles. The aim of this study was to investigate lifestyles of dentists and dental hygienists in Japan preliminarily. Methods: A lifestyle questionnaire was sent to the consented members of the dental associations and the dental hygienists working with the dentists in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Iwate, Japan. The questionnaire was consisted of questions about systemic state, subjective views on health status, lifestyle, and thoughts about needs to support lifestyle improvement for patients. Results: A total of 89 persons consisted of 38 dentists (mean age: 44.4 y old) and 51 hygienists (38.9 y old) responded. The prevalence of overweght cases (BMI >25) were 28.9% in dentists being significantly higher compared with hygienists (2.0%). About 90% persons felt healthy (30%) or fairly healthy (60%) subjectively. However, 64% persons responded that they had no healthy lifestyle. About 60% persons did not receive physical check up at least once a year, and 79% had no regular dental check up. Persons up to 76% did not practice daily physical exercises. A total of 67% responded that they kept regular life, but 45% did not had enough sleeping. The smoking rate for a total of 89 persons were 19% and for dentists 34% being remarkably greater with respect to medical doctors (27.1%) and hygienists (8%; p<0.05). Conclusions: In conclusion, it was suggested that dentists and hygienists should improve their lifestyle as professions to take charge of health promotion and care. This study was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for the research projects from the 8020 Promotion Foundation.