Abstract
Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the eating behavior of patients in a bid to facilitate the improvement of their eating behavior, as eating behavior seemed to affect oral health and dietary habits. Methods : The subjects in this study were 235 patients who visited the dental hygiene practice lab at C college in South Jeonla Province. After a survey was conducted, the collected data were analyzed with the statistical package SPSS 12.0. Results : 1. When their self-awareness of dietary habits and oral health was checked in consideration of eating behavior, those who thought they had very good dietary habits and were in good oral health had meals three times a day. Their eating time was very irregular, and they took 15 to 20 minutes to eat. Their overeating frequency was three or four times a week, and their frequency of eating between meals was once or twice a week. 2. On the contrary, the daily eating frequency of the patients who found themselves to have very bad dietary habits and to be in bad oral health was not fixed, and their eating time was neither regular nor irregular. They spent less than 10 minutes having a meal, and their overeating frequency was once or twice a week. Their frequency of having a snack was three or four times a week, and as for food preference, they had a liking for meat. 3. The patients considered themselves to be in better health when they had balanced meals and good eating behavior, namely good dietary habits. And they rated their own dietary habits higher when they were in a good oral state, had no experiences to feel pain in the mouth and didn't receive any dental treatment, namely when they were in good oral health. Conclusions : This study attempted to investigate the influence of eating behavior on oral health awareness. Another limitation of this study is that the geographic scope was just confined to an urban community in South Jeonla Province without checking any possible regional gaps. However, it's quite evident that eating behavior exerts an influence on oral health awareness, and it seems worth doing to examine a larger number of subjects by utilizing objective oral health guidelines.
