Poor oral health among Swedish adolescents, study finds

GOTHENBURG, Sweden: Swedish 19-year-olds need to improve their oral hygiene habits, as seven out of eight adolescents have unacceptable oral hygiene, a recent study at the Sahlgrenska Academy found.

The study, published in the Swedish Dental Journal, examined 500 randomly selected adolescents. “On average, these adolescents had plaque on half of all tooth surfaces, which is certainly too much,” explains doctoral student Jessica Skoog Ericsson. Gingivitis, which can generally increase the risk of future dental problems as well as tooth-loss, was also identified as a common problem.

The study shows that 76 per cent of the examined adolescents brush their teeth at least twice a day. Four per cent also use dental floss daily but just as many do not clean their teeth at all on some days. “There may be some who are less than honest and say that they brush their teeth more regularly than they actually do, but other studies have shown that adolescents do generally brush their teeth on a regular basis. Poor oral hygiene is probably therefore due to them not brushing correctly and not using dental floss,” says Dr Kajsa Henning Abrahamsson, a senior lecturer in odontology at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

Oral hygiene was slightly worse among the males. Socioeconomic factors, based on an index for the dental practice to which the adolescents belong in the region, was not said to have an impact on the adolescents’ oral hygiene.

This is not the first scientific study to show poor oral hygiene among Swedish adolescents. “It is lamentable that so many adolescents have poor oral hygiene despite considerable investment in information and preventive measures. The dental profession as a whole now needs to look at the reasons why we are not getting through better to this group,” says Dr Abrahamsson.

(Edited by Claudia Salwiczek, DTI)