Method: The study included 321 students of both genders, aged 18-25 years, who attended University of Belgrade. One hundred twenty were students of Faculty of Dental Medicine (79 fifth-year and 41 first-year students) and 201 were students of other faculties. Hiroshima University – Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI) has been translated into Serbian and students gave their answers through internet questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 23 questions related to students’ attitudes towards: dental visits, oral hygiene, oral hygiene devices and oral health. Fisher’s exact test was used to evaluate differences between the groups.
Result: Dental students care more about regular check-ups at the dentist, while students of other faculties frequently present after occurrence of emergency. Dental students brush their teeth thoroughly and care more about appearance of their teeth. Students of other faculties often use toothbrushes of inadequate size and stiffness. One third of the students of other faculties believe that their teeth are becoming worse despite daily oral hygiene and therefore cannot prevent tooth loss in old age. Exceptional difference was found between first-year and fifth-year dental students regarding dental visits and oral hygiene devices (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Comparison of students using HU-DBI gave interesting differences in oral health attitudes and behaviours between first-year and fifth-year dental students. Dental students of the fifth year have correct attitudes towards oral health, while attitudes of students of other faculties proved to be the worst.