Smoking and oral self-care among 15-year-olds in Tehran, Iran

Objectives: To study smoking and oral self-care among 15-year-olds in Tehran, Iran. Methods: The present cross-sectional data covered all 15-year-olds (n=509) from one class of each of the 17 public schools, randomly selected from all public schools in Tehran. All target students participated. The self-administered questionnaire was modified from the WHO second international collaborative study (ICSII). The questionnaire inquired about the students' smoking, and whether they had smokers in the family and among close friends; the alternatives for answering these three questions were Yes and No. Questions about oral self-care covered the frequency of tooth brushing, the consumption of sweets, and the use of fluoride toothpaste. We defined recommended oral self-care (ROSC) as twice-a-day tooth brushing, the regular use of fluoride toothpaste and less-than-daily consumption of sweets. Statistical evaluation was by chi-square test. Results: Smokers comprised 5% of the boys and 2% of the girls (p=0.02); 43% of all respondents reported having smokers in the family, with 24% of boys and 8% of girls (p<0.001) having smokers among friends. Boys who reported being smokers also reported having smokers among their friends more frequently than did the smoking girls (71% vs. 21%; p=0.001). Of all respondents, 42% reported brushing their teeth once-a-day, and 15% of boys and 37% of girls (p<0.001) brushed at least twice-a-day; 60% reported regular use of fluoride toothpaste, and 53% reported consuming sweets less than daily. ROSC was more prevalent among girls (59% vs. 41%; p=0.002), among non-smokers (54% vs. 0%; p=0.001), and for those with highly-educated parents (58% vs. 40%; p=0.02). Conclusions: Despite the low smoking rate reported by 15-year-olds in Tehran, smoking had a similar negative impact on oral self-care, found elsewhere. Therefore, school-based programs, including anti-tobacco health education, should be implemented to promote oral self-care among 15-year-olds.