Salwa A Alsadhan, Amal Alawdah, Ameera Alabdulwahid, Sumaih Ajlan.
Bleaching knowledge among young females in secondary schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Pak Oral Dental J Jan ;27(1):129-36.

This study was done to assess the knowledge and beliefs of young females in secondary schools about teeth bleaching in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and to investigate the source of their knowledge together with any natural or home remedies that they might be using. A specially designed self administered questionnaire was distributed among 6 randomly selected female secondary schools in Riyadh. Out of 1046 surveyed students, 97.5% have heard of tooth bleaching; only 28.1% were satisfied with the color of their own teeth, and 67% wanted to bleach their teeth. With regards to bleaching knowledge, nearly half of the respondents knew that the aim of bleaching was to whiten the teeth, 37% stated correctly the causes of teeth discoloration and 22.5% identified the side effects of bleaching. Only 3.6% of the respondents knew the action of bleaching agents while 8.5% knew the expected duration of bleaching results. About 37% of the respondents stated that family and friends were their main source of information. This study demonstrated that although the majority of the respondents have heard about bleaching, correct knowledge among female secondary school students was low and is inadequate compared to the interest that has been shown by the participants. More effort should be carried out to provide young females with proper information so that any decision made by them regarding teeth bleaching would be based on sound foundation.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com