{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T12:43:20Z","timestamp":1786970600912,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,6]],"date-time":"2020-12-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1607212800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The aim of this observational study is to investigate the oral health status and practices in the multicultural community of Medina, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional questionnaire was distributed that asked about oral health, dental and periodontal conditions, personal attitudes toward dental care, and smoking habits. Cross tabulation with chi-squared testing was carried out to investigate the association of toothbrush usage and smoking with several variables. Four-hundred and sixty subjects enrolled in the study. The majority of the respondents were students and Saudi males. More than 75% of the participants had neither a family dentist nor dental insurance; 7% were smokers, 84% used a toothbrush, 17% used dental floss and 34% used miswak (a teeth cleaning twig made from the Salvadora persica tree). Some of the individuals complained of tooth sensitivity, halitosis and bleeding gums. The main reason for dental visits was pain, with 23% of the participants having never visited a dentist. Tooth brushing was significantly associated with gender, nationality, occupation, education, marital status, having kids and dental insurance (p \u2264 0.05). Tobacco consumption was significantly associated with age, occupation, education level, marital status, having children, having bleeding gingivae and halitosis. Effective dental education programs are needed to improve dental knowledge and awareness in the Medina community.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17239112","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,7]],"date-time":"2020-12-07T12:24:39Z","timestamp":1607343879000},"page":"9112","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Awareness and Practice of Oral Health Measures in Medina, Saudi Arabia: An Observational Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0151-122X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Selma","family":"Saadaldina","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3592-4177","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elzahraa","family":"Eldwakhly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Dental Sciences Department, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia"},{"name":"Department of Fixed Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ahmad","family":"Alnazzawi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Medina 42353, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9887-2450","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rayan","family":"Alharbi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Medina 42353, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bushra","family":"Alghamdi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Medina 42353, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3416-165X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Osama","family":"Abu Hammad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Medina 42353, Saudi Arabia"},{"name":"School of Dentistry, University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mai","family":"Soliman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Dental Sciences Department, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"233","DOI":"10.21101\/cejph.a3712","article-title":"Assessment of Oral Hygiene in Adults","volume":"20","author":"Skorupka","year":"2012","journal-title":"Central Eur. 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