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REVIEW article

Front. Oral. Health

Sec. Oral Health Promotion

Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1555165

This article is part of the Research Topic Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations View all 7 articles

Oral health knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and status among international postsecondary students: A scoping review

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 College of Dentistry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
  • 2 School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
  • 3 College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: This scoping review aims to review and synthesize existing literature on oral health knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, barriers, and status among international post-secondary students.Methods: Using the Arksey and O’Malley framework, MEDLINE, Embase, Dentistry and Oral Sciences Sources, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched in June 2024 for selected oral health and international student keywords. Manual searches of reference lists and citations were also conducted. Original research studies in English language were included, with no geographical or date limitations. Using Rayyan, duplicates were removed, and then two authors independently screened available literature according to eligibility criteria; inconsistencies or disagreements were resolved through a third author.Results: The search yielded 984 articles. After removal of duplicates and those inconsistent with our inclusion criteria, 14 articles remained. In total, 13/14 articles used a cross-sectional design implementing surveys or interviews; only 4 articles presented objective clinical measures (e.g., DMFT, objective periodontal measures). Some included articles provided information about dietary habits relevant to oral health; however, information captured was limited. Overall, compared to the domestic students, international students were reported to have poorer oral health status; more gaps in their knowledge, attitudes and behaviours regarding oral health; and were also less likely to obtain routine oral health care.Conclusion: International students may face significant challenges in managing and optimizing their oral health versus domestic students due to various factors (e.g., acculturation stress, finances, diet, academic stress etc.). Post-secondary institutions may want to consider focusing on supporting and empowering international students to access oral health care on a regular basis through targeted interventions. To design impactful interventions, future community engaged research is needed to better understand the perspectives of international students regarding their oral health status, knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, needs, and aspirations.

    Keywords: Oral Health, international student, Knowledge Attitudes and Behaviors (KABs), oral health and nutrition, Vulnerable population, Determinants of oral health, nutrition, Access to oral health care

    Received: 03 Jan 2025; Accepted: 18 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Yassin, Fida, Alphonsus, Lieffers and Singh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Amrinderbir Singh, College of Dentistry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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