Title

Comparative analysis of oral health beliefs in North India

Authors

Simran Thind¹, Jotsaroop Singh¹, Sukhpreet Kaur Thind², Mandeep Kumar¹, Kirti Makan³, Ruhee Sangha¹ & Ena Sharma^1,*

Affiliation

¹Department of Public Health Dentistry, Rayat Bahra Dental College and Hospital, Punjab, India; ²Department of Pedodontics, Rayat Bahra Dental College and Hospital, Punjab, India; ³Department  of Management USB, Apex Institute of Management, Chandigarh University, Punjab, India; ⁴Department of Prosthodontics, Rayat Bahra Dental College and Hospital, Punjab, India; ⁵Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, MMCDSR, MM (Deemed to be) University, MULLANA, AMBALA, Haryana, India; ⁶Department of Prosthodontics, Rayat Bahra Dental College and Hospital, Punjab, India; ⁷Department of Periodontics, Rayat Bahra Dental College and Hospital, Punjab, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Simran Thind - E-mail: thindd19@gmail.com

Jotsaroop Singh - E-mail: sodhijotsaroop@gmail.com

Sukhpreet Kaur Thind - E-mail: Thind1085@gmail.com

Mandeep Kumar - E-mail: drmandeepkumar@gmail.com

Kirti Makan - E-mail: km.zuk12@gmail.com

Ruhee Sangha - E-mail: ruheesangha24@gmail.com

Ena Sharma - E-mail: dr.sharma_ena@yahoo.co.in

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received July 1, 2026; Revised July 31, 2026; Accepted July 31, 2026, Published July 31, 2026

Abstract

Oral health myths continue to influence oral hygiene practices and dental care utilization, particularly in rural communities. Therefore, it is of interest to assess the awareness of oral health myths and their socio-demographic determinants among 419 urban and rural participants from four North Indian states using a validated 25-item questionnaire. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests and multiple linear regression. Urban participants demonstrated significantly higher awareness than rural participants (p < 0.001), while higher education and income positively predicted awareness, whereas increasing age and rural residence were associated with lower awareness. Thus, data shows the persistent urban–rural disparities and support the need for targeted oral health education to reduce misinformation and improve oral health awareness.

Keywords

Oral health myths, oral health awareness, oral health literacy, dental misconceptions, urban–rural disparities, health literacy, sociodemographic determinants, North India

Citation

Thind et al. Bioinformation 22(7): 4008-4012 (2026)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.