A New Field in Health Literacy: Oral Health Literacy

Abstract

Health literacy is the knowledge, motivation and ability of people to access, understand, interpret and apply health-related information in order to make decisions and make judgments in daily life regarding health care, prevention from diseases, and health promotion in order to maintain or improve the quality of life throughout their lives. Health literacy is important in every period, especially in pandemic periods, in terms of preventing diseases, and promoting and improving health and staying healthy. In addition, health literacy; It is extremely important for the society or the individual to gain competence in obtaining, understanding, evaluating and making decisions and using this information through the use of health services. Oral health literacy is a relatively new field and is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to acquire, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate oral health decisions. Oral health literacy is critical to public health because higher oral health literacy has been shown to be associated with improved quality of life, improved oral health knowledge, regular oral health checkup appointments, lower levels of tooth decay, lower rates of not receiving treatment. Improving oral health literacy is a new necessity in the field of dentistry to improve community oral and dental health. Developing an innovative perspective on this subject, including assessment of the situation for both professionals and patients, training and communication programs for the source of the problem, projects, campaigns and scales, will serve a holistic approach by facilitating the adoption of healthy behaviors towards oral health, which is an integral part of general health.