Soft and energy drinks consumption and associated factors in Saudi adults: a national cross-sectional study.

Introduction: The consumption of soft and energy drinks poses a significant risk for non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. Studies in Saudi Arabia have reported elevated consumption of soft/energy drinks, but nation-wide data is not available. Therefore, this study aims to explore the prevalence of soft and energy drinks consumption and its associated factors among a representative sample of Saudi adults. Methods: The present research is a secondary data analysis of the 2021 Sharik Diet and Health National Survey (SDHNS). Current analysis used data on socio-demographics, anthropometrics, physical activity, and soft and energy drink consumption. The frequency of soft and energy drinks consumption is assessed on a weekly basis. Results: Of the 5,194 Saudi adults, 3,928 were analyzed. Overall, 67% consumed soft drinks weekly, while 30% consumed energy drinks weekly. In multiple logistic regression, consumption of either soft drinks or energy drinks was associated with males, a younger age, lower income, and lower physical activity. Individuals with overweight or obesity were less likely to consume energy drinks [OR (95%CI): 0.83 (0.71, 0.99) and 0.73 (0.60, 0.90), respectively] than those with healthy weight. However, education level was not associated with either soft or energy drink consumption. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions designed to reduce soft and energy drinks consumption in Saudi adults.

Community service-based preventive dental education for elementary school-aged children.

OBJECTIVES: The effectiveness of one-to-one preventive dental education provided by dental undergraduate students for improving elementary school-aged children's oral self-care skills, diet-related knowledge, and diet behavior was tested. METHODS: The sample consisted of 106 children between the ages of 5 and 12 years who attended the same school. Oral self-care skills were assessed by undergraduate dental students using a tooth-brushing assessment form, and diet knowledge and behaviors by means of a questionnaire. The effectiveness of education (two one-to-one sessions) was evaluated by measuring the post-educational changes in the children's oral self-care skills, diet knowledge, and behavior. RESULTS: There were significant improvements in the means (sd) of tooth-brushing skill scores (range: 0-18) from 6.2 (4.0) at the baseline to 8.4 (4.1) at the first and to 10.3 (3.0) at the second follow-up. Total tooth-brushing time (in seconds) significantly increased from 76.0 (59.1) at the baseline to 110.7 (74.3) at the first follow-up then decreased to 102.6 (73.1) at the second follow-up. The means (sd) of diet knowledge scores (range: 0-30) improved significantly from 18.5 (5.6) at the baseline to 23.0 (7.3) at the first and to 24.5 (4.0) at the second follow-ups. The means (sd) of weekly sugar intake scores (range: 0-18) significantly decreased from 4.9 (2.1) at the baseline to 3.1 (2.0) at the first follow-up and remained unchanged until the second follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: One-to-one dental education improved children's oral self-care skills, diet-related knowledge, and diet behavior. The post-educational improvements were maintained for 6 months in older children but not in the younger children.

Parental psychosocial factors, unmet dental needs and preventive dental care in children and adolescents with special health care needs: A stress process model.

BACKGROUND: Children and adolescents with special health care needs (SHCN) have higher unmet dental needs, but the potential mechanisms by which parental factors can influence dental care use have not been determined. Parenting a child with SHCN can present special demands that affect parents' well-being and, in turn, their caregiving. Hence, the study's overall aim was to apply the stress process model to examine the role of parental psychosocial factors in the association between child SHCN and dental care. Specifically, the study tested hypotheses regarding how (a) children's SHCN status is associated with child dental care (unmet dental needs and lack of preventive dental visits), both directly and indirectly via parental psychosocial factors (parenting stress, instrumental, and emotional social support) and (b) parental social support buffers the association between parenting stress and child dental care. METHODS: A secondary data analysis of the 2011-2012 US National Survey of Children's Health was performed for 6- to 11-year-old children (n = 27,874) and 12- to 17-year-old adolescents (n = 31,328). Our age-stratified models estimated associations between child SHCN status and parental psychosocial factors with two child dental care outcomes: parent-reported unmet child dental needs and lack of preventive dental care. RESULTS: Parents of children with (vs without) SHCN reported higher unmet child dental needs, higher parenting stress, and lower social support (instrumental and emotional). Instrumental, but not emotional, parental support was associated with lower odds of their child unmet dental needs in both age groups. The association between parenting stress and child dental care outcomes was modified by parental social support. CONCLUSION: Differences existed in child unmet dental needs based on SHCN status, even after adjusting for parental psychosocial factors. SHCN status was indirectly associated with unmet dental needs via parental instrumental support among adolescents, and parental instrumental support buffered the negative association between parenting stress and both child dental care outcomes. Hence, parental social support was an important determinant of child dental care and partially explained the dental care disparities in adolescents with SHCN.

Socioeconomic status, social support, and oral health-risk behaviors in Canadian adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: We tested hypotheses regarding how adolescent oral health-related behaviors are associated with socioeconomic status (SES) and family and peer social support, including the extent to which such associations differ for boys and girls. METHODS: We analyzed data from the 2013/2014 Canadian Health Behavior in School-aged Children Study for 20,357 adolescents ages 12-18 years. Family Affluence Scale was used to assess SES. Family and peer social support were assessed using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. We estimated average marginal effects from multivariable binary logistic regression models for three oral health-risk behaviors outcomes: infrequent toothbrushing, high sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake, and high sweets consumption across both genders. RESULTS: Adolescents from low SES households had lower probability of parental and peer support, and were significantly more likely to report infrequent toothbrushing and high SSB consumption, both before and after controlling for both types of support. Lower family support was associated with higher probability of engaging in infrequent toothbrushing and high SSB intake, while lower peer support was associated with higher probability of engaging in infrequent toothbrushing and lower likelihood of engaging in high SSB consumption. The associations of family support with oral health-related behaviors were somewhat stronger for boys than girls. CONCLUSIONS: Low SES and low family support were associated with a higher likelihood of oral health-risk behaviors (infrequent toothbrushing and SSB consumption). Regardless of adolescents' gender, parental support exerted a protective role, but peer support had countervailing risk and protective roles on oral health-related behaviors.

Fit of tooth-supported zirconia single crowns-A systematic review of the literature.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to systematically map all the factors that influence the fit and adaptation of zirconia crowns and/or copings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The investigational strategy involved carrying out an electronic search between December 1, 2009 and September 1, 2019 through the Embase and Medline databases using Boolean operators to locate appropriate articles. RESULTS: A total of 637 articles were discovered after the removal of duplicates, and 46 of these were selected for evaluation. Further, a quality assessment was performed using GRADE evaluation criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Shoulder finish line preparations had slightly better marginal fit compared to chamfer finish lines. Crowns obtained from digital impressions had comparable to superior marginal adaptation compared to conventional impressions. Increasing cement space showed to improve zirconia crown adaptation. Cementation and veneering zirconia frameworks found to increase the marginal and internal gaps. Limited information is available on the effect of the alteration of sintering time/Temperature and/or sintering techniques on the adaptation of zirconia crowns. Most of the selected studies had a moderate quality assessment evaluation. Future studies could investigate the chair-side, ultra-fast sintering effect on the marginal gap of zirconia crowns.

Parenting stress as a mediator in the oral health of children and adolescents: A stress process model.

OBJECTIVES: We tested hypotheses regarding socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in oral health amongst children and adolescents and the extent to which such SES disparities may be mediated by parenting stress. METHODS: We analysed data from the 2011/2012 US National Survey of Children's Health for ages 6-11 years (n = 21 596) and 12-17 years (n = 23 584). Our models estimated associations between SES indicators (family income and parental education) and parenting stress with two oral health outcomes: parent-reported child oral health and preventive dental visits. RESULTS: For both age groups, SES was positively associated with both oral health outcomes. Parenting stress mediated the relationship between SES and child oral health, not preventive dental visits-such that lower SES was associated with worse oral health via higher parenting stress. Amongst children, the indirect effect of parenting stress was observed for parental education and family income, whilst amongst adolescents, no indirect effect of parenting stress was observed. CONCLUSION: Parenting stress was an important determinant of children's oral health and partially explained the SES-related oral health disparities in children. Future research is needed to explore the causal pathways in this association.