Faculty of Health Sciences
School of Dentistry
Department of Community Dentistry
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Research shows that adolescents who did not live with their mothers were less likely to brush their teeth regularly. However, adolescents with a general predisposition to cope adequately with stress and those who do not smoke are more likely to brush their teeth regularly and experience good gingival health, irrespective of their level of oral hygiene. The onset of smoking, on the other hand, is least likely in youths who strongly believe that smoking causes bad breath and that bad breath has negative social consequences, such as peer rejection. These results from the initial phase of the project supported the implementation and evaluation of an intervention integrating oral health promotion with a social skills-based smoking prevention curriculum, Life Skills Training (LST). In addition to teaching stress-coping skills, the curriculum provided information on the short-term health consequences of smoking, focusing on effects such as bad breath and its influence on social interaction, especially as it relates to the adolescents' romantic aspirations. A two-year randomised controlled trial showed that LST was very effective in promoting adolescents' regular tooth-brushing behaviour and good gingival health. However, the intervention did not significantly reduce smoking prevalence, but increased non-smokers' cigarette-offer refusal self-efficacy, which may reduce susceptibility to future smoking
Contact person: Dr OA Ayo-Yusuf.
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