Is the Sense of Coherence Associated With Flossing Among Southern Brazilian Male Adolescents? A Cross-Sectional Study

To assess the association between sense of coherence (SoC) and flossing among southern Brazilian male adolescents aged 18-19 years.

A high SoC has been reported to be associated with beneficial oral health-related habits and behaviours but no study has properly assessed its association with flossing.

A cross-sectional study was conducted and included 18-19-year-old adolescents who joined the Brazilian Army as enlisted for mandatory military service in two military bases located in southern Brazil (n = 507). A structured questionnaire was applied to gather data on flossing (use and frequency) and SoC, which was assessed using the validated Brazilian short version of the SoC scale (SOC-13). The outcomes of this study were flossing, regardless of frequency, and daily flossing, both of which were defined as binary variables ('no' or 'yes'). The main predictor variable was SoC, categorised as low, moderate or high. The association between SoC and flossing was investigated using Poisson regression models. Unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated.

The prevalence of flossing, regardless of frequency and daily flossing was 34.4% and 13%, respectively. Adolescents with high SoC were 43% more likely to floss than those with low SoC (adjusted PR = 1.43; 95% CI = 1.06-1.93). Similarly, adolescents with high SoC had around two-fold greater likelihood of daily flossing than their counterparts with low SoC (adjusted PR = 2.18; 95% CI = 1.20-3.96).

This study showed a significant association between high SoC and a greater likelihood of flossing among 18-19-year-old male adolescents from southern Brazil.