Oral health behaviours and cariogenic food consumption in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) contributes to functional impairments in the performance of personal tasks such as oral hygiene. This study aimed to compare oral health behaviours and consumption of cariogenic foods in children diagnosed with ADHD and healthy control peers.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 60 children with ADHD aged 6 to 11 years made up the study group, and 60 peers of the same age, sex, and from the same school, without a history of ADHD, made up the control group. To compare the parent-reported behaviours between the 2 groups, conditional logistic regression was used to obtain matched pairs odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: Children with ADHD were 0.4 times less likely than their non-ADHD peers to brush their teeth at least once a day (OR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.18-0.91, = 0.028). Moreover, compared to the control group, children with ADHD were 4.71 and 9.67 times more likely to consume cariogenic foods (95% CI: 2.08-10.66, < 0.001) and drinks (95% CI: 2.94-31.73, < 0.001), respectively, at least thrice a day.

Conclusion: In comparison to their non-ADHD peers, children diagnosed with ADHD were less likely to brush their teeth and simultaneously more likely to consume both cariogenic foods and drinks.