{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,5]],"date-time":"2026-11-05T01:52:40Z","timestamp":1793843560391,"version":"4.6.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,28]],"date-time":"2023-08-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1693180800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) of patients regarding dental caries prevention in a university hospital in Guangzhou, China. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based KAP survey was conducted in a cross-sectional manner at the First Affiliated Hospital in Guangzhou, China, from 1 September to 30 September 2022. Questionnaires were distributed to eligible patients, resulting in the participation of 251 individuals. The questionnaire consisted of five sections capturing socio-demographic data and exploring participants\u2019 knowledge, attitudes, practice, and accurate preventive dental caries knowledge. Descriptive statistics and a generalized linear model with univariate tests were used for analysis. Results: The study results show that the knowledge score 7.97 (\u00b10.91) and attitudes score 7.67 (\u00b10.89) among the participants were good while the practice score was 6.80 (\u00b10.81) moderate. The majority of participants identified tooth infections (81.3%), bacteria (92%), and sugar (89.2%) as the main causes of gum bleeding and tooth decay. Brushing (96%) and fluoride (80.5%) were also recognized as essential for preventing tooth decay. Of oral diseases, 94% were recognized as potentially affecting overall health. The vast majority ranging from 92.8% to 98%, believed that oral health is crucial to overall health and that regular check-ups and proper brushing habits are beneficial. There is a significant association of gender with age (p = 0.018), occupation (p = 0.050), lifestyle habit (p = 0.012), and knowledge score; whole education is significantly associated with practice score (p = 0.050). Conclusions: The majority of patients exhibited accurate knowledge and attitudes with moderate practice towards dental caries prevention, with socio-demographic factors playing a major role. However, effective implementation of dental health education programs across the healthcare system is still required to further enhance outcomes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina59091559","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,28]],"date-time":"2023-08-28T03:45:42Z","timestamp":1693194342000},"page":"1559","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["Dental Caries Prevention Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice among Patients at a University Hospital in Guangzhou, China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"59","author":[{"given":"Rui","family":"Jiang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stomatology, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhong Shan Road 2nd, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiali","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stomatology, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhong Shan Road 2nd, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1409-8112","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafiqul","family":"Islam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8586, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stomatology, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhong Shan Road 2nd, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ermin","family":"Nie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stomatology, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhong Shan Road 2nd, Guangzhou 510080, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tafere, Y., Chanie, S., Dessie, T., and Gedamu, H. 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