Oral Hygiene Practices among Saudi Arabian Children and Its Relation to Their Dental Caries Status

Table 4

Mean DMFT score and differences in scores by dietary habits.

Dietary habits	(%)	Mean DMFT (SD)	Difference (95% CI)
Frequency of eating/day
1-2 times	77 (15.3)	0.73 (0.9)	0.00	0.05
3-4 times	326 (65.2)	0.63 (0.4)	−0.09 (−0.18, −0.02)
More than 4 times	98 (19.5)	0.71 (0.8)	−0.02 (−0.09, 0.06)
Snack between meals/day
Once	189 (37.8)	0.62 (0.5)	0.00	0.05
Twice	200 (40.0)	0.70 (0.5)	0.06 (0.01, 0.11)
Three or more	111 (22.2)	0.70 (0.7)	0.08 (−0.00, 0.09)
Sugar consumption level/day
Low	169 (33.7)	0.58 (0.5)	0.00	0.01
Moderate	206 (41.2)	0.66 (0.5)	0.07 (0.00, 0.15)
High	126 (25.1)	0.74 (0.6)	0.16 (0.04, 0.27)

CI: confidence interval. SD: standard deviation. Significant relation between the mean DMFT score and dietary habits.