Sociodental Needs Related to Nonprogressive Dental Conditions among Young Adults in Chennai, India: A Longitudinal Study.

OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal study aimed to assess the difference between normative, impact-related, and propensity-related needs (PRNs) for nonprogressive dental conditions among young adults in Chennai, India, and to evaluate the effect of dental health education (DHE) on behavioral propensity. METHODS: A total of 195 post-graduate students aged 20-25 years from three randomly selected colleges in Chennai were examined. Normative needs (NNs) were assessed using the dental aesthetic index, community periodontal index for treatment needs, and WHO prosthetic needs index. Impact-related needs were evaluated with the oral impacts on daily performance questionnaire. PRNs were determined using four oral health behavior indicators. Participants with medium or low propensity received audiovisual DHE followed by reinforcement, and behavioral propensity was reassessed after 1 month. Data were analyzed using the chi-square and McNemar's tests. RESULTS: NNs were identified in 86.6% of participants, while 85.2% reported at least one oral impact. Only 2.7% of participants demonstrated high behavioral propensity and were classified as having sociodental needs at baseline. Following DHE, sociodental needs increased slightly to 3.7%. Behavioral propensity improved significantly, with high propensity increasing from 0% to 3.7% and medium propensity from 38.0% to 58.3% (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The sociodental approach showed a considerable reduction in treatment needs compared with the normative method. DHE produced a significant improvement in behavioral propensity, indicating the importance of incorporating psychosocial and behavioral dimensions into oral health needs assessment.