Systematic review of the tools of oral and dental health literacy: Assessment of conceptual dimensions and psychometric properties

Abstract Background This article aims to provide a description of conceptual dimensions and psychometric properties of the tools of oral and dental health literacy.Methods Two authors in this study conducted electronic searches in the Medline (via PubMed), and Embase databases to find relevant articles from 1990 to present day. Evaluation of the tools was carried out in two parts; general evaluation of the tools using skills introduced by Sornes et al., and qualitative assessment of psychometric properties using COSMIN checklist.Results After reviewing 1839 articles on oral and dental health literacy and evaluating 33 full text articles for eligibility, 21 articles entered the study. The sample size varied from 20 to 1405 subjects and the items of each tool ranged from 11 to 99 items. Of the 21 tools examined, 16 tools were evaluated for word recognition. For the studies examined, the evaluation of COSMIN scores was often fair or good. Of the 21 tools examined, 9 tools at least in one dimension were in the category of "poor", 19 tools were in the category of "fair", 20 tools were in the category of "good", and 4 tools were in the category of "excellent" in at least one dimension.Discussion The authors of this study emphasize on the necessity to design and develop a comprehensive tool and take into account two characteristics of simplicity and briefness for international use. Because it is only then that, the tool can be used to transform oral and dental health literacy into a comprehensive and usable index for monitoring the world’s health system (in oral health).