[Oral health state in dentistry students of Medical College, Jagiellonian University in Cracow].

The aim of the study was to analyse the oral health status of the fourth and fifth year dentistry students of Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. The data were collected using the anonymous questionnaire concerning the general health, using medications, dietary habits, smoking and drinking alcohol, present and previous oral complaints and selected health behaviour patterns (follow-up examination of oral cavity, teeth brushing and other hygienic procedures, using dental floss). The oral cavity status was estimated by clinical examination conducted with the use of artificial lighting and basic diagnostic set: dental probe and dental mirror. The data for 120 persons were analysed: 75 (62.5%) fourth year students and 45 (37.5%) fifth year students aged 21-27 years (mean age 23.2). Among the examined persons 84.2% descended from cities and 15.8% from the villages. During the medical review it was stated that among chronic diseases allergies (27.5%) were on the first position, cardio-vascular diseases (8.33%) were on the second and respiratory system diseases were on the third position. The review about smoking and drinking alcohol stated that 71.7% never smoked cigarettes, 10% gave up smoking and 18.3% were daily smokers, 81.7% of students occasionally drink alcohol, mainly beer. The dental history stated that all of examined students (100%) were subjected to teeth caries treatment, 48.7% had endodontic treatment, 38.1% extraction (mainly for orthodontic reasons), 5.9% prosthetic, 3.9% apicoectomy, 0.8% had dental implant. The estimation of oral cavity hygiene (API index) and frequency of decay (DMF index-Decayed Missing Filling) was included in the examination. The mean value of DMF was 13.56, API 22.51 in the whole examined group. The assessment of periodontal tissues was made with the support of treatment needs: 60.0% of examined persons don't need any periodontal treatment, 14.17% need to improve their oral cavity hygiene and 25.83% require the dental calculus removal. The study revealed that 39.1% suffer from temporo-mandibular arthropathies. Normal occlusion is characteristic for 45.69% of examined students, small abnormalities for 48.28 and 6.03% have advanced malocclusion. The presented results are a part of examination performed in four Polish academic centres that estimates oral health status of students of dentistry in our country.