[Evaluation of dental behaviour in adults with an advanced level of education in Athens].

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dental health behaviour in adults of advanced education. Ninety adults, aged 31-60, men and women were randomly selected from a population of advanced education. All the subjects had a thorough oral examination in order to record their dental health indices. Before the examination each participant was interviewed personally for determining, among others, their knowledge about oral health in general and more specifically about prevention of oral diseases. Their responses were correlated with the dental health indices that were determined by the dental examination. The results of the study indicate that this segment of the population demonstrates better oral health status than other population groups of the same age in Greece; the values of the restorative treatment indices were especially very high. From their responses it was found that although their theoretical knowledge on general dental health was satisfactory their information on prevention of oral disease was very limited. It is therefore concluded that although the level of education of adult population correlates well with the level of dental care received, an effective control of oral disease could be realised only if prevention procedures and dental health education is initiated early in life.