Evaluation of oral hygiene in children based on eating behavior and healthy food selection

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the oral hygiene status of school-age children depending on the eating behavior patterns and healthy food selection. The research was carried out with the participation of 225 pediatric patients aged 7-9 years who applied to Altınbaş University Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry for treatment between December 2022 and May 2023. After obtaining written consent from the parents, oral examinations of the children were made and the Healthy Eating Self-Efficacy Scale was administered to the children. In the evaluation of oral hygiene conditions; plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S), dmft and DMFT indices were used. Parents, on the other hand, answered the form including sociodemographic questions and the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). Eating behavior questionnaire in children; It has 8 subscales consisting of food responsiveness, enjoyment of food, emotional overeating, craving for drinking, craving for satiety, slow eating, emotional undereating, and food selectivity. Multivariate data obtained from intraoral examination, CEBQ and Healthy Eating Self-Efficacy Scale were evaluated by statistical path analysis method. As a result of statistical analysis, a statistically significant negative correlation was found between Healthy Eating Self-Efficacy Scale and plaque index, gingival simplified oral hygiene index, dmfs and DMFS (p<0.05). When the emotional low eating score, which is one of the subgroups of the CEBQ questionnaire, increases, the dmfs score decreases; The increase in the emotional overeating score and the increase in the DMFS score gave statistically significant results. It was observed that there was a positive correlation between satiety enthusiasm and dmfs and plaque index (p<0.05). In addition, higher self-efficacy and food selectivity were observed in children from high-income families compared to children from middle-income families, while emotional binge eating and drinking cravings were observed in children from lower-income families. None of the subgroups of eating behavior in children were found to have a statistically significant relationship with self-efficacy (p>0.05). As a result of the study, it was observed that the oral hygiene status of children may vary depending on the eating behavior patterns and healthy eating self-efficacy. This information can contribute to the understanding of the multifactorial etiology of caries and may be helpful in the development of nutritional interventions that will promote the development of healthy eating self-efficacy and eating behaviors that are beneficial to oral health. Keywords: School-Age Children, Nutritional Behavior, Healthy Food Choice, Oral Hygiene, Dental Caries.