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Updated: May 30, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Why Iranian adolescents do not brush their teeth: a qualitative study
A H Pakpour1, A Hidarnia, E Hajizadeh
1Department of Public Health, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
Objectives:
To explore and describe attitudes towards tooth-brushing among Iranian adolescents.
Methods:
A series of focus-group sessions were held with 37 Iranian adolescents in schools. The groups comprised five to eight adolescents. All focus-group discussions were tape-recorded and then transcribed verbatim. All transcripts, codes and categories were read several times to extract a theme. Data were analysed using a qualitative content analysis approach.
Results:
Four major categories emerged from the analysis: brushing teeth is a necessary evil, parental influence on not brushing teeth, brushing teeth is insignificant, and brushing teeth is a health hazard. The theme identified in the latent content described that tooth-brushing is not part of the adolescents' activities of daily living.
Conclusions:
Health educators should stress on the engagement of parents, awareness of the adolescents on brushing techniques and causes of toothache, and address any misconceptions regarding tooth-brushing.
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