Association between personality traits, dental caries, and oral health-related behaviors among underserved Egyptian adults: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The Big Five personality traits comprise five broad dimensions of personality namely openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism which may influence oral health. Examining these influences in underserved communities helps inform the design of tailored oral disease prevention strategies. This study assessed the association between personality traits on one hand and dental caries as well as oral health behaviors on the other hand, among underserved Egyptian adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three governorates (Alexandria, Elbeheira and Matrouh) in Northwestern Egypt between November and December 2025. Data were collected, in community settings, from mentally healthy, adults, using a self-administered questionnaire assessing personality traits by the Big Five Inventory-2 Extra-short Form, as well as the Arabic translated WHO adult form for oral health behaviors (toothbrushing, dental visits, and sugar consumption). Dental caries experience was assessed using the DMFT index. The independent variables were personality traits, while the dependent variables were caries and the three oral health behaviors in four separate models. Potential confounders (age, gender, educational level, and residence) were controlled. Four regression models (linear and binary logistic) were fitted and regression coefficients (B), Adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 95% confidence intervals (CI), model fit statistics (R²/pseudo-R², as appropriate to model type)were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 820 adults were included (mean age = 36.5 ± 13.0 years), of whom 70.2% were females, 59.1% brushed once or more daily, 60.6% had visited a dentist in the previous year, the mean sugar consumption score was 3.85 ± 2.06 and the mean DMFT index was 5.16 ± 5.04. Agreeableness showed the highest mean score (11.53 ± 1.97), while openness had the lowest mean score (9.64 ± 2.27). Neuroticism was significantly associated with less toothbrushing (AOR = 0.90, p = 0.003). Openness was significantly associated with higher dental visits (AOR = 1.08, p = 0.03) and sugar consumption (B = 0.12, p < 0.001). Conscientiousness was significantly linked to reduced sugar intakes (B=-0.15, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Personality traits were significantly associated with the caries experience and oral health behaviors of underserved Egyptian adults, which may help targeting individuals for preventive interventions.