September 2017

Objective: This study aimed to investigate excessive Internet use’s (EIU’s) association with oral health behaviors among Korean adolescents. Basic research design: This cross-sectional study was based on the 11th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2015). Participants: 68,043 school students aged 13-18 years (35,204 boys and 32,839 girls). Data on, 45,271 (23,354 males and 21,917 females using the Internet on weekdays) and 49,324 (27,448 males and 21,876 females using the Internet on weekends) were analyzed after excluding questionnaires with missing values. Main outcome measures: The key variables were oral health behaviors (tooth-brushing frequency and tooth brushing after lunch at school, and preventive oral health behaviors), EIU (hours of Internet use on weekdays and weekends, excluding use for academic purposes). Results: Compared to the general groups, the odds ratio (OR) for less tooth-brushing was 4.04 (95%CI=2.990–5.459) and 3.55-fold higher (95% CI=2.703–4.659) in the high-risk groups for weekday and weekend EIU, respectively. For post-lunch tooth-brushing, compared to the general groups, the OR for less tooth-brushing was 1.7-fold higher in the high-risk groups for EIU during weekdays and weekends. The OR for no preventive behavior was significantly higher in the high-risk groups than in the potential-risk and general groups. Conclusions: Policies moderating adolescents’ EIU may enable appropriate oral health behaviors. Key words: Adolescents, Excessive internet use, Oral health behaviors