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Exploring A-level student perspectives on oral health awareness, caries prevention, and the influence of career aspirations on these perspectives

BDJ Student volume 33, pages 16–19 (2026)Cite this article

Dental caries remains one of the most prevalent diseases in mankind. It is a disease of multifactorial aetiology, therefore requiring several parallel approaches for its management. Although various preventive methods have reduced the prevalence of disease, demographic and socio-economic factors have slowed the reduction of the disease. It is unclear how well-informed A-level students are about preventative methods for dental caries. The most trustworthy and, perhaps, most universal source of information about those methods is dentists sharing their knowledge with their patients which can then be spread among people.

However, not all people always have easy access to dentists, hence why they often must refer to sources like the internet which is not always reliable. It is also unclear if the students in college, especially those who are studying A-levels with the aim of applying for medicine or dentistry, are given any formal educational information about dental health. There have been some studies around the world on awareness of middle adolescents on dental caries prevention. Most of them focused on the overall perception of oral health and methods of maintaining it, the knowledge on formation of cavities and their prevention. Those studies showed that most teenagers aged 16-18 had basic knowledge on caries prevention. There was an idea that oral health affects one's general health but there was quite large uncertainty on how exactly it does so. They knew about the effect of sugar on caries formation, although they were not quite sure about the mechanism. Toothbrushing was mostly known to be a very important factor in caries prevention, yet not many adolescents seemed to know about the necessity of fluoride in toothpaste. Studies also showed that a large fraction of students got the most of their oral health education from school and then from parents, but it is unclear what the nature of this information was. They also did not indicate the parent's knowledge, so it is difficult to determine the link between students' and parents' oral health knowledge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Woodhouse College, London, UK

    Anna Kyretiv

  2. Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    M S Duggal & Rula Chami

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  1. Anna Kyretiv
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  2. M S Duggal
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  3. Rula Chami
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Kyretiv, A., S Duggal, M. & Chami, R. Exploring A-level student perspectives on oral health awareness, caries prevention, and the influence of career aspirations on these perspectives. BDJ Student 33, 16–19 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41406-025-1550-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41406-025-1550-8

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