Table 3.
Gender-specific prevalence of dental fear among first-year university students in Finland according to oral health-related factorsa
| Dental fear among all | Dental fear among women | Dental fear among men | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very afraid | Somewhat afraid | Not at all afraid | p b | Very afraid | Somewhat afraid | Not at all afraid | p b | Very afraid | Somewhat afraid | Not at all afraid | p b | |
| % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | ||||
| Tooth brushing | ||||||||||||
| Twice a day or more often | 5.2 (324) | 34.0 (2104) | 60.8 (3762) | 0.095 | 6.5 (288) | 37.7 (1677) | 55.9 (2489) | 0.078 | 2.1 (36) | 24.6 (427) | 73.3 (1273) | 0.001 |
| Once a day | 5.6 (124) | 31.5 (695) | 62.8 (1384) | 8.8 (94) | 38.1 (407) | 53.0 (566) | 2.6 (30) | 25.4 (288) | 72.0 (818) | |||
| Less than once a day | 9.1 (11) | 30.6 (37) | 60.3 (73) | 8.6 (3) | 34.3 (12) | 57.1 (20) | 9.3 (8) | 29.1 (25) | 61.6 (53) | |||
| Do you smoke or use snuff? | ||||||||||||
| Not at all | 5.0 (334) | 33.3 (2231) | 61.7 (4135) | <0.001 | 6.4 (289) | 37.2 (1692) | 56.4 (2564) | <0.001 | 2.1 (45) | 25.0 (539) | 72.9 (1571) | 0.002 |
| Occasionally | 5.8 (74) | 33.3 (425) | 60.9 (776) | 8.1 (61) | 40.3 (304) | 51.6 (389) | 2.5 (13) | 23.2 (121) | 74.3 (387) | |||
| Regularly | 9.5 (51) | 33.4 (180) | 57.1 (308) | 13.6 (35) | 38.9 (100) | 47.5 (122) | 5.7 (16) | 28.4 (80) | 66.0 (186) | |||
| Eating or drinking (something other than water, coffee or tea without sugar) | ||||||||||||
| ≤6 times a day | 5.5 (374) | 33.3 (2272) | 61.2 (4172) | 0.956 | 6.8 (315) | 37.5 (1736) | 55.7 (2582) | 0.448 | 2.7 (59) | 24.5 (536) | 72.8 (1590) | 0.177 |
| 7–10 times a day | 5.0 (79) | 33.2 (522) | 61.8 (971) | 7.4 (65) | 39.5 (345) | 53.1 (464) | 2.0 (14) | 25.4 (177) | 72.6 (507) | |||
| >10 times a day | 4.8 (6) | 33.9 (42) | 61.3 (76) | 10.2 (5) | 30.6 (15) | 59.2 (29) | 1.3 (1) | 36.0 (27) | 62.7 (47) | |||
| Eating habits (−10 to +10) | ||||||||||||
| Healthy (+1 to +10) | 5.0 (365) | 33.0 (2393) | 61.9 (4488) | 0.001 | 6.5 (311) | 37.3 (1795) | 56.2 (2705) | 0.001 | 2.2 (54) | 24.6 (598) | 73.2 (1783) | 0.019 |
| Do not know (0) | 5.7 (24) | 36.0 (151) | 58.3 (245) | 8.6 (21) | 42.8 (104) | 48.6 (118) | 1.7 (3) | 26.6 (47) | 71.8 (127) | |||
| Not healthy (−10 to −1) | 8.3 (70) | 34.4 (292) | 57.3 (486) | 10.6 (53) | 39.2 (197) | 50.2 (252) | 4.9 (17) | 27.5 (95) | 67.6 (234) | |||
| Attitude to food | ||||||||||||
| Normal | 4.7 (341) | 32.2 (2333) | 63.1 (4568) | <0.001 | 6.2 (279) | 37.0 (1665) | 56.7 (2550) | <0.001 | 2.3 (62) | 24.3 (668) | 73.4 (2018) | <0.001 |
| Do not know | 8.4 (81) | 40.1 (387) | 51.5 (496) | 9.1 (72) | 41.1 (324) | 49.7 (392) | 5.1 (9) | 35.8 (63) | 59.1 (104) | |||
| Abnormal | 12.0 (37) | 37.7 (166) | 50.3 (155) | 12.4 (34) | 39.1 (107) | 48.5 (133) | 8.8 (3) | 26.5 (9) | 64.7 (22) | |||
| Last dental check-up | ||||||||||||
| 0–2 years ago | 5.2 (288) | 32.4 (1811) | 62.4 (3483) | 0.003 | 6.6 (245) | 36.4 (1344) | 57.0 (2106) | 0.001 | 2.3 (43) | 24.7 (467) | 73.0 (1377) | 0.012 |
| 3–5 years ago | 5.4 (133) | 34.7 (857) | 60.0 (1482) | 7.1 (114) | 40.1 (648) | 52.8 (854) | 2.2 (19) | 24.4 (209) | 73.4 (628) | |||
| >5 years ago | 8.3 (38) | 36.5 (168) | 55.2 (254) | 10.6 (26) | 42.4 (104) | 46.9 (115) | 5.6(12) | 29.8 (64) | 64.7 (139) | |||
| Treatment need at dental check-ups | ||||||||||||
| Never | 1.9 (43) | 22.1 (499) | 76.0 (1721) | <0.001 | 2.5 (36) | 25.4 (362) | 72.1 (1029) | <0.001 | 0.8 (7) | 16.4 (137) | 82.8 (692) | <0.001 |
| Rarely | 4.3 (183) | 33.8 (1439) | 61.9 (2639) | 5.8 (159) | 37.9 (1030) | 56.3 (1531) | 1.6 (24) | 26.5 (409) | 71.9 (1108) | |||
| Frequently or every time | 11.7 (233) | 45.1 (898) | 43.2 (859) | 13.5 (190) | 50.0 (704) | 36.6 (515) | 7.4 (43) | 33.4 (194) | 59.2 (344) | |||
aTime to last check-up, treatment need at last check-up, tooth brushing frequency, eating or drinking frequency, eating habits, attitude to food, and smoking or using snuff
b P-values for chi-square tests