Gender peculiarities of sanitary and hygienic knowledge in youthful smokers

Adherence to proper oral hygiene is one of the most important factors influencing the formation of dental health in general and hard tooth and periodontal tissues in particular among different age groups, including young people. Aim - to study the gender peculiarities of sanitary and hygienic knowledge among adolescents who use different types of smoking for further development of a scheme of treatment and prevention measures. Materials and methods. The level of sanitary and hygienic knowledge and skills in young people was assessed using the traditional questionnaire method in 95 young people (18 to 24 years old) who smoke, who were divided into two groups: the main group - 48 female people, the comparison group - 47 male people. Results. It was found that the majority of female respondents pay attention to the state of the oral cavity 1.2 times more often than male respondents (72.4±4.3% and 62.8±3.5%). Mostly female respondents visit a dentist every 6 months, which is 1.1 times more often compared to male respondents (60.4±4.1% and 55.7±3.5%). The remaining female respondents are 1.2 times more likely than male respondents to say that they regularly visit a dentist every 12 months - 34.8±2.6% and 28.5±2.1%, respectively. It has been found that female respondents are 1.3 times more likely to report regular care for individual oral hygiene compared to male respondents - 87.4±6.8% and 69.3±5.2%, respectively. Conclusions. The analysis of the study results indicates gender peculiarities of sanitary and hygienic knowledge and skills, which indicate the need to develop and consolidate in young people, especially men, a positive attitude towards a healthy lifestyle and dental health. The study was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was approved by the Сommittee on bioethics and deontology of these institutions. Informed consent of the patients was obtained for the study. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.