Nutritional and Oral Hygiene Knowledge versus Reported Behavior of Children and Adolescents—A Cross-Sectional Interview-Based Study

Abstract

Despite the fact that healthy, sugar-reduced nutrition has been propagated by the media and in schools for years, dental caries in children remains a major health problem worldwide, caused primarily by an unhealthy diet. The objective of this study is to compare statements on nutrition and hygienic knowledge with those on children’s actual dietary and hygienic behavior. A random sample of 554 children and adolescents aged 3–19 years was enrolled. Designed as a cross-sectional interview-based community survey, this study was conducted consecutively during three one-day public science-promoting events at the Saarland University’s Medical Faculty. Participants’ oral hygiene and nutritional knowledge was profound; however, the reported translation into practice showed deficiencies. Boys and younger children (3–10 years) often showed better oral hygiene knowledge than girls and older children (over 11 years) but had problems implementing it into their daily life practice. In contrast, girls and older children often showed less oral hygiene knowledge but reported more favorable behavior. Finally, children up to the mixed dentition phase preferred drinking sweets more often than older children, posing a risk to the developing permanent dentition. Intensifying well-known controlled motivation training approaches to encourage children and adolescents is recommended to put their knowledge into practice.