• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.513-521
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to investigate the correlation between health behaviors and experiences of oral diseases in Korean adolescents. Methods: This study used the results of the seventh, eighth, and ninth adolescent health behavior online survey which was completed by a self-administered questionnaire targeting 222,264 middle school and high school students in September, 2011, June, 2012, and from June to July, 2013. The questionnaire consisted of four questions of socio-economic characteristics of the subjects, three questions of health behaviors, and four questions of eating habits. Data were analyzed by SPSS 18.0 program. Results: Oral health knowledge and behaviors were closely correlated to smoking, alcohol drinking, and toothbrushing after meal. Liking for fruit, soda, snack, and vegetable had a significant influence on oral diseases. Smoking and alcohol drinking had a significant relation to oral disease prevalence rate. Conclusions: In Korea, the prevalence rate of oral diseases is still high in the adolescents. Therefore, continuous dental health education program is very important to decrease the oral disease morbidity. The incentive program for the adolescents will improve the concern for the oral health.