health literacy and its determinants in adult patients referred to dental clinics: a cross sectional study in mashhad, iran

Background: health literacy is the capacity of individuals to obtain, understand, and interpret basic health information that is necessary to make appropriate health-related decisions.objectives: this study aimed to investigate the association between oral health literacy and the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) index, which was conducted in mashhad dental clinics in 2016.methods: in this cross-sectional study, 380 patients referred to private and public clinics in mashhad filled out the oral health literacy adult’s questionnaire (ohl-aq). the questionnaire contained 4 sections: reading, numeracy, listening, and decision making. each correct answer was assigned a score of 1 and incorrect or no response were assigned with zero score. the dmft index was evaluated based on decayed, missing, and filling teeth. data analysis was performed using chi-square and linear regression tests.results: the mean score for oral health literacy was 10.6 ± 3.4. among patients 46.8% had favorable oral health literacy level, 19.7% were with relatively favorable, and 33.4% were with unfavorable health literacy levels. the average of the dmft index in the studied group was 8.3 ± 4.9 and was higher among males than females. a significant correlation between the health literacy level and the dmft index was observed; however, the correlation was negative and weak (r= - 0.127).conclusions: the average of oral health literacy level for the entire study population was relatively appropriate, and the majority of the subjects (46.8%) represented a good oral health literacy level. furthermore, education, economic status, and collecting information from different sources of oral health are important factors affecting the level of oral health literacy.