The association of oral health-related behaviour and dental caries among 6 -7 year old school children of Wilsonia Pakwara Moradabad : Across sectional study

Aim: To find out the association between oral health related behavior and dental caries Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the 6-7-year-old students of Wilsonian school, DFT was clinically assessed at the first visit and a validated questionnaire was distributed among the parents of the students. The questionnaire consists of the three main questions, one regarding the tooth brushing Frequency that was assessed by the following question: “How many times a day does your child brush his/her teeth?” with the answers of “twice or more/day,” “once/day,” “less than once/day,” and “do not know.” These answers were recorded as “twice or more/day; coded 1” and “less than twice/day (including ‘do not know’); coded 2”. Another question regarding the drinking sugar-sweetened beverages frequency was assessed by the following question: “How often does your child drink sugar-sweetened beverages?” with the answers of “several times/month or never; coded 1,” “once/week; coded 2,” “2- 3 times/week; coded 3,” “4-6 times/week; coded 4,” “once/day; coded 5” and “twice or more/day; coded 6.” .The Third question was regarding “Snack-eating habits” that was assessed by the following question: “When does your child eat snacks?” with the answer of “does not eat snacks; coded 1,” “eats snacks at a set time; coded 2” and “eats snacks freely whenever he/she wants; coded 3.” Results: Poor oral behavior was associated with higher DFT after adjusting for all covariates Toothbrushing frequency, frequency of drinking sugar-sweetened beverages and snack-eating habits (OR=1.49,CI-1.17-1.89) (OR=2.01,95% CI=1.27,3.18) and (OR=1.83,95%CI=1.14,2.92) associated with DFT, Conclusions: improving children’s oral health behavior might decrease their dental caries by Strengthening their self-control. KEYWORDS Child, child dentistry, dental caries, oral health behavior