ASSESSMENT OF CITIZENS'AWARENESS REGARDING ORAL HYGIENE AND PREVENTION OF DENTAL DISEASES
Authors: Kaskova L.F. , Pavlenkova O.S. , Sadovski M.O. , Amosova L.I. 
Published: December 2020

Recently, sanitary and educational work for the prevention of dental diseases in children is widely implemented, but the problem of awareness and oral hygiene in young and middle-aged people remains quite relevant.
Nowadays, the range of dental items and hygiene products is quite wide, so a person who does not receive the recommendations of a dentist is quite difficult to understand what and why it should be used.
Therefore, the aim of the study was to study the preventive knowledge of ordinary passers-by of young and middle age and their awareness of additional subjects and hygiene products.
Object and methods of research. To achieve this goal, 100 passers-by in the center of Poltava were interviewed. According to the age classification of the World Health Organization: the young age is from 25 to 44, middle age is 44-60, elderly age is 60-75, senile age is 75-90 and long-livers are after 90. Two age groups were selected for the results: young and middle-aged, as these groups are the most common. Age was determined by survey. 50 people aged 25-44 years and 50 people aged 44-60 years were elected. The gender was not taken into account when choosing a contingent.
Passers-by were asked 5 simple questions that characterized both the preventive habits of the respondents and knowledge about hygiene items and products.
Research results and their discussion. Analyzing the answers to the questions, we found that young people (25-44 years) are more aware of the rules of oral care than middle-aged respondents (44-60 years). Answering the first question - "How often do you visit the dentist?" respondents answered as follows: only 5 young people visit the dentist as needed, while among middle-aged people this number is seven times higher.
When answering the second question - "Do you pay attention to the composition of toothpaste when choosing?" respondents answered as follows: 42% of young people always pay attention to the composition, twice as many people - buy what the dentist advises, and the rest respondents were not interested in the components of the paste. The results of the second group were significantly worse.
The third issue concerned the frequency of toothbrush changes, which is very important for the quality of oral hygiene and cleaning efficiency. The results of the survey showed that people from the older age group of the study are less aware of this issue.
The answers to the fourth and fifth questions also showed a lower level of knowledge in middle-aged people.
Thus, after analyzing the answers of the respondents, it is clear that people of the younger age group (25-44 years) are more aware of oral hygiene and prevention of dental diseases. In our opinion, this situation is associated with the introduction of health education at different levels, available information on the Internet and various social platforms, more responsible attitude to their health and awareness of preventive measures.
It is necessary to pay attention to the education of middle-aged people regarding oral hygiene, as it is an integral part of the prevention of dental diseases.