{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,11]],"date-time":"2026-05-11T11:20:32Z","timestamp":1778498432750,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777420800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Lions Club Ponte S. Pietro Isola"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Unhealthy dietary behaviors and suboptimal oral hygiene practices remain common among Italian children, potentially affecting both nutritional and oral health. Dental caries, a preventable yet highly prevalent condition in pediatric populations, has a multifactorial etiology in which lifestyle factors play a key role. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of dental caries, dietary habits, and oral hygiene behaviors in school-aged children in Lombardy, and to identify factors associated with prevalent caries status. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 307 schoolchildren aged 9\u201310 years from ten schools in Northern Italy. Oral health status was evaluated through the plaque index and the DMFT\/dmft index during school-based dental examinations. Dietary habits, lifestyle, and oral hygiene practices were collected through structured questionnaires. A mixed-effects logistic regression model was developed to explore potential associations between variables and prevalent caries status. Results: The dietary patterns, weight status, oral hygiene behaviors, and oral health conditions were generally consistent with the national data. Higher plaque index, skipping breakfast, consuming mid-morning snacks, and parental reports of previous caries experiences were retained in the final model. Internal validation suggested reasonable discriminatory ability overall, whereas calibration shows heterogeneity across schools. Conclusions: The findings highlight suboptimal dietary and oral hygiene behaviors among Lombardy schoolchildren and confirm their association with dental caries. Lifestyle-related factors, particularly oral hygiene practices and eating patterns, showed a relevant association with prevalent caries status in the analyzed sample. These results underscore the need for targeted preventive strategies integrating nutritional education and oral health promotion in pediatric populations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18091416","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T08:03:47Z","timestamp":1777536227000},"page":"1416","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Dietary and Oral Hygiene Behaviors Associated with Prevalent Caries Status in School-Aged Children of Northern Italy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Virginia","family":"Troiani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Cadore 48, 20900 Monza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-9818-795X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edoardo","family":"Ratti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Cadore 48, 20900 Monza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Gonnella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Cadore 48, 20900 Monza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-4663-8542","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Cristina","family":"Panzeri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Cadore 48, 20900 Monza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1045-8838","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paola","family":"Palestini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Cadore 48, 20900 Monza, Italy"},{"name":"Master\u2019s Programme in Applied Food and Nutritional Sciences, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5006-2280","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emanuela","family":"Cazzaniga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Cadore 48, 20900 Monza, Italy"},{"name":"Master\u2019s Programme in Applied Food and Nutritional Sciences, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(07)60031-2","article-title":"Dental caries","volume":"369","author":"Selwitz","year":"2007","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"853","article-title":"Indagine epidemiologica nazionale sulle condizioni dentoparodontali dei bambini di 4 e 12 anni","volume":"17","author":"Strohmenger","year":"2006","journal-title":"Dr. Os"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7981687","DOI":"10.1155\/2019\/7981687","article-title":"Socioeconomic Factors and Oral Health-Related Behaviours Associated with Dental Caries in Preschool Children from Central Italy (Province of Ascoli Piceno)","volume":"2019","author":"Nota","year":"2019","journal-title":"BioMed Res. 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