Objectives:  This  study  aimed  to  translate  and  adapt  the  Rapid  Estimate  of  Adult 
Literacy  in  Dentistry (RREALD-30) instrument for Romanian urban adults and to test its
reliability and validity for oral health literacy studies.

Material  and  methods:  The  study  examined  urban  adult  patients  (n     224)  who  attended 
the  dental school  clinic  at  the  Faculty  of  Dental  Medicine,  Bucharest.  We  collected 
data  through  face-to-face interviews  utilising  the  REALD-30  instrument.  The  interviews 
enquired  about  the  Oral  Health  Impact Profile  (OHIP-14),  background  characteristics,  oral 
health-related  knowledge,  visits  to  dentists  and  self- rated   oral   health   status.   We  
applied   principal   component   analysis   for   factor   structure   and   Item Response  Theory
 models  to  discriminate  ability.  A  structural  equation  model  (SEM)  evaluated  whether
knowledge, perceived oral health, and visits to the dentist mediate the effect of RREALD on
OHIP-14. Results:  Of  the  224  participants,  113  (50.4%)  were  males.  The  internal 
consistency  of  the  RREALD-30 measured  by  Cronbach’s  alpha  was  0.88.  The  test-retest 
reliability  was  excellent  (Spearman’s  correl- ation  coefficient  0.98,  ICC  0.90).  RREALD-30
 exhibited  good  concurrent  and  predictive  validity.  SEM demonstrated that RREALD mediated the
effect of visits to dentist on OHIP-14.

Conclusion:  The  RREALD-30  proved  satisfactory  psychometric  properties  and  may  serve  to 
evaluate dental health literacy among Romanian adults.