Distribution of dental health behaviors in Nordic schoolchildren.

The present study was part of the project "Health Behavior in Schoolchildren. A WHO Cross National Survey". The distribution of eight dental health behaviors among Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish schoolchildren aged 11, 13, and 15 yr was studied separately for boys and girls. The sample size approximated 3000 individuals for each country, and the samples are considered to be representative for whole countries. The distinction between individual and collective behavior was empirically supported in this study. Thus collective behaviors (supervised fluoride rinsing and distribution of fluoride tablets) did not vary according to sex but declined with increasing age. On the other hand, individual behaviors varied according to sex and tended to increase in frequency with increasing age. The levels of the studied dental health behaviors were different among the three countries. This may be related to country-specific preventive policies as well as social and cultural norms.