Dental Pain And Associated Factors In Adolescents And Young Adults

Abstract

Background: Dental pain is a relevant theme, as it is still considered one of the main problems that lead people to seek dental care, thus becoming an impacting factor in public health. Aim of the study: To identify the factors associated with the prevalence of dental pain in KSA adolescents and young adults. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study was conducted at King Khalid University Dental Clinics, KSA. Data collected from 638 subjects, 16–25 years of age, who were randomly selected from applicants, were analyzed. Questionnaires were administered to collect socio-demographic, economic and behavioral variables. Clinical examinations were carried out to determine the decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index. The outcome variable was dichotomized as 0 (no dental pain in the last 12 months) or 1 (dental pain in the last 12 months). Statistical analyses included binary logistic regression. Results: Average age was[1] 18.7±1.76 years, and 49.2% of participants were women. Prevalence of dental pain was 34.0%. In the final model, variables significantly (P < 0.05) associated with the experience of dental pain were the use of preventive dental services (OR = 0.34), being a former smoker (OR = 2.37), self-report of very poor/poor oral health (OR = 1.94) or fair oral health (OR = 1.94), self-reported dental disease (OR = 2.06) or gingival disease (OR = 2.84). Conclusions: The prevalence of dental pain was associated with self-reported oral health status, preventive dental visits and smoking; these results have implications for dental practice. We found that recent experience of dental pain was common in young adults, being reported by one out of three subjects.