Association of oral health literacy with oral health behaviour and oral health status in Belarus.

OBJECTIVES To explore the level of oral health literacy among adults in Belarus, a former part of the Soviet Union, and to analyse the associations between oral health literacy, socio-demographics, health behaviour and oral health status. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN A cross-sectional study. Participants: 281 adult (18-60 years old) dental patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire collecting information about socio-demographics and health behaviours, and oral health literacy test (the R-OHLI). Clinical oral examination followed the questionnaire survey. RESULTS Among participants, 68.7% had adequate, 18.9% had marginal and 12.4% inadequate oral health literacy levels. Females and those with higher education were more likely to have adequate oral health literacy (p<0.05 and p<0.001). Participants with adequate oral health literacy had fewer missing and more filled teeth than those with inadequate literacy (p<0.001). This association remained significant after adjusting for socio-demographics, behavioural characteristics and oral hygiene status (p<0.05 and p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Adequate oral health literacy was strongly related with better oral health status. Improvement of oral health literacy should be addressed when developing community oral health promotions.