ABSTRACT
Objective: The aims of this descriptive, cross-sectional investigation were to evaluate the
gingival health awareness of dental students by comparing their clinical gingival
bleeding scores and self-reports, and to compare differences in awareness between
males and females. Methods: In total, 100 (51 males, 49 females) freshman dental students were included in the
study. Periodontal indices recorded were: Presence of plaque percentage (plaque index
[PI], %), percentage of sites of bleeding on probing (BOP, %), probing depth, and
community periodontal index (CPI). Percent agreement, kappa agreement, sensitivity,
and specificity were calculated by comparing their self-reported gingival bleeding
and BOP%. Results: The self-reports of gingival bleeding exhibited statistically significant correlations
with BOP% in females (r = 0.42, P = 0.003). Female students showed a higher degree of awareness when kappa agreement,
0.23 (males: 0.16, females: 0.39), sensitivity, 48% (males: 42%, females: 51%), and
specificity, 95% (males: 90%, females: 100%) were calculated. Although male dental
students had higher PI and CPI scores, there was no significant difference by gender
in the clinical measurements. Conclusions: According to our results, the validity of self-reported gingival bleeding was higher
among dental students than in previous population-based studies. Female dental students
showed a higher degree of awareness than males of their gingival health. Half of the
included dental students could not differentiate whether they had gingival bleeding
when there was actual bleeding. More emphasis should be given to the education of
dental students regarding the relationship between gingival bleeding and active periodontal
disease.
Key words:
Awareness - dental - gingival bleeding - gingivitis - self-report - sex differences
- students
