Plaque Characteristics and Oral Health Status of Malaysian University Undergraduates

Objective: To determine plaque characteristics and caries status among various disciplines of healthcare students in Malaysia and to establish a correlation between these. Methods: A sample of students from five disciplines in the first year of their respective programs were selected by proportionate stratified random sampling and 132 consented to participate in the study. Using a salivary testing kit (GC Asia Dental Pte Ltd, Japan), each subject was tested to determine the pH and age of the plaque, followed by an intra-oral examination. Results: A significant difference in caries status was found between different study courses (One way ANOVA, p<0.05). Subjects from Dentistry course had the lowest mean DMFT score of 1.35, followed by the Medical students (2.18), Chiropractic (3.38), Psychology (5.00) and Chinese Medicine (5.60). No significant difference in pH of the plaque in relation to gender, race and the studied course (p>0.05). The mean plaque pH among the subjects was found to be 6.28 while there were 13 subjects who had a plaque pH of 5.5. The mean DMFT was lower in male subjects (1.97) when compared to the female subjects (2.67, p<0.05). There was no significant correlation found between plaque pH, age of plaque and plaque scores established with caries status (Pearson correlation, p>0.05). Conclusion: The study could not establish a clear association between plaque characteristics and caries status among the sample selected.