Limited evidence about the role of diet quality, an important component of nutritional status, in the etiology of dental caries has been reported. The aim of this study was to examine the association between diet and dental caries in children by using the dietary intake data, anthropometrical measurements and dental examination. A total of 395 children (52.7% boys and 42.8% girls) who were 36-71 months of age (mean age 58.7±8.6 months) and attended one of the eleven preschools within a district of Ankara participated in this descriptive study. Dental examinations were performed in the schools under day-light by a pediatric dentist; decayed, missing and filled teeth as well as surfaces were recorded. Data related to socio-demographic characteristics and 24-hour dietary recall of children were gathered via a structured, pretested questionnaire which was conducted by the research dietitian. The Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) and Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents (KIDMED) were used to assess dietary intake. Anthropometric measurements including weight, height, upper arm circumference and head circumference were taken by the same researcher. The percentage of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) was increased by age (p<0.001) whereas no significant difference was observed by sex, socioeconomic status, tooth brushing frequency and body mass index (p>0.05). Although children who had bad KIDMED scores had slightly higher mean values of decayed missing and filled teeth (dmft) (5.39± 4.6) and decayed missing and filled surface (dmfs) (8.45± 8.69), compared to the scores of children with good or medium KIDMED scores, the differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). On the contrary to the KIDMED findings, the mean value of tooth decay was significantly higher among children with bad HEI-2010 score (4.2±4.3) compared to children with medium HEI-2010 score (2.47±2.9) (p=0.043). It is concluded that a healthy eating pattern and high diet quality is essential for the prevention of early childhood caries in preschool children. Further studies are required to develop dietary strategies for the prevention of dental caries.

Objectives: This study aims to determine the healthy lifestyle behaviors (HLSB) of the students of Bingöl Vocational School of Health, who did summer internship at Bingöl State Hospital, and the factors affecting the HLBS. Materials and methods: Between 10 August 2015 and 11 September 2015, a total of 112 (50 males, 62 females; mean age 16.6±1.1 years) out of 120 students of vocational high school of health, who did summer internship at Bingöl State Hospital were included in the scope of this study, which characterized as descriptive (Response rate: 93.3%). We asked the participants questions regarding the assessment of socio-demographic characteristics and several factors that are thought likely to affect healthy lifestyle behaviors, and we applied a survey covering the HLSB scale questions. HLSB scale is a scale inquiring the healthy lifestyle behaviors, consisting of 48 questions, divided into six sub-components with the options "never, sometimes, often and regularly", and the lowest score is 48, the highest 192. Results: We calculated the general mean of HLSB scale of the students to be 126.9±28.7 points. While HLSB scale mean scores were not found statistically different according to gender, income status, family type and whether there is smoking habits in the family (p>0.05), a significant difference was found between eating habits and self-realization HLSB sub-components in accordance with the areas studied at high school (p<0.05). Consequently, eating habits and self-realization scores were higher among the students studying emergency medicine technicianship compared to those studying nursing and we found this difference to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: We found the healthy lifestyle behaviors of the students of Bingöl Vocational School of Health to be moderate. We thought that, although the students receive education at a school associated with health, not adequate awareness was raised about healthy lifestyle behaviors. Therefore, students' comprehending the importance of healthy lifestyle behaviors and applying these in daily life should be supported. . Katılımcılara sosyo-demografik özellikler ile sağlıklı yaşam biçimi davranışlarını etkileyebileceği düşünülen bazı faktörlerin değerlendirilmesi ile ilgili sorular yöneltildi ve SYBD ölçeği sorularının yer aldığı bir anket formu uygulandı. Ölçek, SYBD'yi sorgulayan 48 soru ve 'hiçbir zaman, bazen, sıklıkla ve düzenli olarak' seçeneklerinden oluşan, altı alt bileşene ayrılan bir ölçektir ve en düşük puan 48, en yüksek puan ise 192'dir. Bulgular: Öğrencilerin SYBD ölçeği genel ortalaması 126.9±28.7 puan olarak hesaplandı. SYBD ölçeği ortalama puanları cinsiyet, gelir durumu, ailenin tipi ve ailede sigara içme alışkanlığı olup olmadığı durumlarına göre istatistiksel olarak farklı bulunmazken (p>0.05); lisede okuduğu bölüme göre SYBD alt bileşenlerinden beslenme alışkanlığı ve kendini gerçekleştirme arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı farklılık bulundu (p<0.05). Buna göre beslenme alışkanlığı ve kendini gerçekleştirme puanları...

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