Influence of lifestyle on oral health behavior among rural residents of Udaipur district, India.

OBJECTIVES To determine the relation of life style with dental health behavior such as tooth brushing frequency, use of extra cleansing devices and regular visits to dentist among rural residents of Udaipur district, India. STUDY DESIGN The study population comprised of 1001 rural population between the ages 18 to 69 years selected by multi stage stratified cluster sampling procedure. Personal interviews were conducted by three trained interviewers who collected information on socio-demographic and lifestyle factors in addition to some aspects of dental health behavior including tooth brushing frequency, use of extra cleaning devices like dental floss and regular visits to dentist. RESULTS Majority of the population (63.3%) brushed their teeth once a day and only a few subjects (19.8%) brushed twice a day whereas 8.6 % never brushed their teeth. Logistic regression analysis revealed that females were more apt in every aspect of dental health behavior. House wives were more regular in brushing their teeth (OR=1.51) and using extra cleansing devices as compared to other occupation groups. Subjects who suffered from systemic disease showed negative association with use of extra cleansing devices but showed positive association with regular visits to dentist. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that dental health behavior is related with life style factors as well as socio-demographic variables.