Table 2.
Factors Associated with Oral Health Literacy of the Study Participants (N=361)
| Variables | Oral Health Literacy Levels | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| High OHL | Low OHL | ||
| HeLD‐Th ≥ 37 | HeLD‐Th < 37 | ||
| Continuous Variables, Median (Min-Max) | P-value a | ||
| Number of remaining teeth (NRT) | 10 (0–32) | 6 (0–31) | < 0.001 |
| Age (Years) | 70 (60–89) | 72 (60–94) | < 0.001 |
| Categorical Variables, Number (%) | P-value b | ||
| Number of remaining teeth (NRT) | |||
| NRT ≥ 20 teeth | 49 (66.2) | 25 (33.8) | 0.003 |
| NRT < 20 teeth | 134 (46.7) | 153 (53.3) | |
| Age: | |||
| Age ≤ 74 | 136 (57.1) | 102 (42.9) | 0.001 |
| Age > 74 | 47 (38.2) | 76 (61.8) | |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 126 (47.9) | 137 (52.1) | 0.083 |
| Male | 57 (58.2) | 41 (41.8) | |
| Marital status | |||
| Married | 127 (53.4) | 111 (46.6) | 0.158 |
| Others | 56 (45.5) | 67 (54.5) | |
| Educational level | |||
| > Primary education | 60 (74.1) | 21 (25.9) | < 0.001 |
| ≤ Primary education | 123 (43.9) | 157 (56.1) | |
| Income per month | |||
| ≥ 15,000 BAHT ($475) | 29 (76.3) | 9 (23.7) | 0.001 |
| < 15,000 BAHT | 154 (47.7) | 169 (52.3) | |
| Toothbrushing frequency | |||
| ≥ twice daily | 145 (55.1) | 118 (44.9) | 0.006 |
| < twice daily | 38 (38.8) | 60 (61.2) | |
| Toothbrushing duration | |||
| ≥ 2 minutes | 127 (57.0) | 96 (43.0) | 0.003 |
| < 2 minutes | 56 (40.6) | 82 (59.4) | |
| Routine dental care | |||
| Yes | 24 (68.6) | 11 (31.4) | 0.026 |
| No | 159 (48.8) | 167 (51.2) | |
Notes: aP-value from the Mann–Whitney U-test. bP-value from the Chi-Square test.
Abbreviations: OHL, oral health literacy; NRT, number of remaining teeth; HeLD-Th, Thai version of Health Literacy in Dentistry questionnaire; Min, minimum; Max, maximum.