Awareness and Attitude of Diabetic Patients Towards Oral Health in Traghen, Southern Libya: A cross-sectional study

الملخص

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic medical condition that is becoming more prevalent worldwide that cause severe medical complications. This illness has several effects on oral health, which in turn influence the management of diabetes. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate diabetic patients' attitudes and knowledge regarding oral disease complications. Methods: A hospital-based, cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using a confidential questionnaire that was randomly distributed to adults with diabetes. A total of 104 individuals with diabetes were included in this study. The study was conducted using this tool with a level of significance at p<0.05. Results: More than half of respondents (53.8%) had a moderate level of awareness. Where, 78.8% of diabetic patients were aware that DM impacts general oral health. Additionally, 68.3% acknowledged that DM increases gingival bleeding, and 89.4% recognised that DM can cause tooth loss. In terms of attitude, 89.4% of diabetic patients in this research had poor attitudes towards daily oral hygiene practices. The results showed that 84.3% of participants never floss their teeth, and around 82.7% visit only when complaining of pain. The correlation between education and oral health awareness reveals that the level of dental knowledge among higher education subjects (30.4%) is significantly higher than at different levels of education, p-value (0.005). In addition, illiterate diabetic patients have the poorest knowledge (41.6%). Moreover, the relationship between age and overall attitude reveals