Associations between a history of sexual abuse and dental anxiety, caries experience and oral hygiene status among adolescents in sub-urban South West Nigeria
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC Oral Health
Abstract
Abstract
Introduction: Sexual and oral health are important areas of focus for adolescent wellbeing. We assessed for the prevalence of sexual abuse among adolescents, oral health factors associated with this history, and investigated whether sexual abuse was a risk indicator for dental anxiety, caries experience and poor oral hygiene.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted between December 2018 and January 2019 among adolescents 10–19 years old in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Survey data collected included respondents’ age, sex, and socioeconomic status, oral health risk factors (dental anxiety, frequency of tooth brushing intake of refined carbohydrates in between meals, fossing, dental visits, smoking, alcohol intake, use of psychoactive substances), caries experience, oral hygiene status, history of sexual abuse, and sexual risk behaviors (age of sexual debut, history of transactional sex, last sexual act with or without condom, multiple sex partners). Regression models were constructed to determine the association between outcome variables (dental anxiety, presence of caries experience and poor oral hygiene) and explanatory variables (oral health risk factors and history of sexual abuse).
Results: The prevalence of sexual abuse in our cohort was 5.9%: 4.3% among males and 7.9% among females. A history of sexual abuse was associated with alcohol consumption (p=0.009), cigarette smoking (p=0.001), and a history of transactional sex (p=0.01). High/severe dental anxiety was significantly associated with increased odds of a history of sexual abuse (AOR=1.81; 95% CI 1.10, 2.98), but not with caries experience (AOR=0.66; 95% CI 0.15, 2.97) nor poor oral hygiene (AOR=1.68; 95% CI 0.95, 2.96). Dental anxiety was associated with increased odds of alcohol intake (AOR=1.74; 95% CI 1.19, 2.56), twice daily tooth brushing (AOR=1.48; 95% CI 1.01, 2.17) and daily consumption of refined carbohydrates in-between-meals (AOR=2.01; 95% CI 1.60, 2.54). Caries experience was associated with increased odds of using psychoactive substances (AOR=4.83; 95% CI 1.49, 15.62) and having low socioeconomic status (AOR=0.40; 95% CI 0.18, 0.92). Poor oral hygiene was associated with increased odds of having middle socio‑economic status (AOR=1.43; 95% CI 1.05, 1.93) and daily consumption of refined carbohydrates in-between-meals (AOR=1.38; 95% CI 1.08, 1.78).
Description
10p
Keywords
Citation
Folayan, M. O., El Tantawi, M., Aly, N. M., Adeniyi, A. A., Oziegbe, E., Arowolo, O., ... & Sam-Agudu, N. A. (2021). Associations between a history of sexual abuse and dental anxiety, caries experience and oral hygiene status among adolescents in sub-urban South West Nigeria. BMC Oral Health, 21(1), 1-10.