Simultaneous oral health risk behaviors among adolescents: evidence from the National School-based Student Health Survey.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of simultaneous oral health risk behaviors and associated factors among Brazilian adolescents.

METHODS: The study comprised data of 109,104 adolescents participating in the Brazilian National School-based Student Health Survey. The simultaneous presence of less frequent toothbrushing (E), current smoking (C), no visits to the dentist (D), low fruit intake (F), and high sugar intake (A) was assessed by comparison of observed/expected prevalence (OP/EP). Logistic regression was used to assess sociodemographic and family factors associated with the clustering patterns of oral health risk behaviors.

RESULTS: The simultaneous occurrence of two or more oral health risk behaviors was of 60.40%. The highest prevalence values were found for the following patterns with OP/EP over 1.20: EDF, CFA, and EDFA. The odds for two or more combined oral health risk behaviors were higher for adolescents whose parents did not participate in homework, from public schools, males, and of Asian or Indigenous ethnicity (OR > 1.00; p < 0.05). Low family affluence level (FAL) acted as a risk factor for the pattern ECDFA (OR = 2.58; p = 0.009), while low and mean FAL functioned as protection factors for the pattern CFA (OR = 0.71; p < 0.001, and OR = 0.76; p = 0.011).

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of simultaneous oral health risk behaviors was low and negatively associated with sociodemographic and family factors. Interventions aiming at reducing these behavior patterns should prioritize the groups that have been identified as being at most risk.