32 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE EDUCATION Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate children’s preferences of soft drinks and their knowledge of the dental health problems caused by them. A sample from Larissa city in Central Greece was taken for this study, with a total of 600 students (305 boys and 295 girls) aged 9-12 years old. Results showed that in all age groups milk is children’s first choice of preference. Parents and friends influenced youngest and oldest children choices, while taste was also very important for older children. Children seemed not to believe in advertisements, although younger children realize that advertisements try to make them buy products. Lastly this study confirms our hypothesis, that children’s knowledge of the dental health effects of soft drinks is limited. Key words: dental erosion, survey, soft drinks, secondary school Resumen El propósito de este artículo es investigar las preferencias de los escolares en su consumo de refrescos, y el conocimiento que éstos tienen sobre los problemas de salud dental que les puede producir este consumo. Para ello se tomó una muestra de 600 estudiantes (305 niños y 295 niñas), en una edad de 9-12 años, residentes en la ciudad de Larissa, situada en el centro de Grecia. Los resultados muestran que en todos los grupos la leche es la bebida preferida, y que la influencia de padres y amigos es muy importante, a la hora de elegir, en los niños menores de edad. Por el contrario en los niños mayores, el sabor es el factor más importante al decidir la bebida preferida. Los niños no parecen creer en los anuncios, aunque los más jóvenes se dan cuenta que la finalidad de los anuncios es hacerles comprar determinados productos. Finalmente, este estudio confirma nuestra hipótesis, que los niños tienen un conocimiento muy limitado de los efectos perniciosos de los refrescos, sobre su salud dental. Palabras clave: caries, encuesta, refrescos, escuela secundaria. INTRODUCTION The importance of developing healthy nutritional habits from the early years of our life becomes obvious, since young individuals with healthy eating habits show decreased risk for immediate health problems, such as obesity, anaemia or dental problems (VEREECKEN, HENAUW & MAES, 2005). Regarding the consumption of drinks, the majority of children tend to consume various kinds of drinks such as milk, fresh juices, fruit-flavoured drinks or carbonated beverages since the early years of their life. Although milk is considered to be healthy, juices, fruit-flavoured drinks and carbon- ated beverages contain mild acids, which can damage teeth. Unfortunately, most of the children are not familiar with the effects that the consumption of those acidic drinks can have on their oral health. One of the most important dental diseases connected to acidic drink consumption is dental erosion, which results from the chemical action of acids on the tooth surface (AL-MALIK et al., 2002; BARTLETT, 2005). Dental erosion is the progressive irreversible loss of dental hard tissue (enamel and dentine) due to chemical process that does not involve bacteria (WHO, 2003; BARTLETT, 2005; Yip et. al., 2003; Moynihan, 2005). It is estimated that approximately 50% of 5-year-olds and 30% of 14-year-olds show dental erosion evidence (British Nutrition Foundation, 2004). According to GANSS et al. (2001) dental erosion is more likely caused by the individual’s nutritional behaviour. There are three types of tooth erosion: a) idiopathic erosion, b) extrin- sic erosion and c) intrinsic erosion (Moss, 1998). According to MOSS (1998) idiopathic erosion is the result of tooth contact with acids of un- known origin and it is an erosion-like pathology. Extrinsic elements in- clude acidic food, beverages, or even liquid oral medicines (MOSS, 1998; NUNN et al., 2001). Finally, intrinsic causes of dental erosion include en- dogenous acids or gastric acid (JARVINEN et al., 1991; MOSS, 1998). Erosion in 6-16 year olds is often seen in combination with high con- sumption of carbonated drinks and fruit juices (ATTIN et al., 2005), Fur- thermore, erosion is linked to the frequency, the method and the timing of drink consumption (HARLEY, 1999). Various international studies indicate that dental erosion in children and adolescents is correlated to the consumption of soft drinks or fruit drinks (JARVINEN et al., 1991; AL-DLAIGAN et al., 2001; AL-MAJED et al., 2002; SHAW & SMITH, 2001; DUGMORE & ROCK, 2004; JENSDOTTIR et al., 2005; LUO et al., 2005). Furthermore, it has been proven that modifying drinking habits could prevent erosion (MOAZZEZ et al., 2000). Regarding the effects of cola drinks, it has been found that individuals who consume such soft drinks show dental erosion (VAN EYGEN et al., 2005; WONGKHANTEE et. al., 2005). SEOW & THONG (2005) found that the most acidic drinks had the greatest erosive effects on enamel. Apart from teeth erosion, cola drinks were found to lead in various undesirable results such as body weight increase or even carcinogenicity (BELPOGGI et al., 2006). Therefore children and adolescents should avoid consuming them. The study presented in this paper aimed to investigate a) Greek primary school students’ drinking preferences, b) the factors associated with their drink choice and c) their knowledge on the effect that those drinks have on their oral health. METHOD Sample A sample from Larissa city in Central Greece was taken for this study. The study took place with a total of 305 boys (50,8%) and 295 girls (49,2%) aged 9-12 years old from 2 schools, 1 rural and 1 semi-rural in Larissa. From the sample of 600 children, 26 children were nine years old, 235 children 10 years old, 197 children 11 years old and 142 children 12 years old. Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of the sample. The students were randomly selected from their classes. Table 1 Age of the Participating Sample Age N (%) 9 26 (4,3%) 10 235 (39,2%) 11 197 (32,8%) 12 142 (23,7%) Total 600 (100%) Data collection As this study was a school-based survey, a questionnaire for each student was prepared and administered to the students by the researchers. A consent form was sent out to the parents of all children, so that they were informed of their children’s participation in this research. A discussion with the students regarding the purpose of the study was conducted with the researchers at the two schools, prior to the administration of the ques- tionnaire. The procedure was completed within three weeks. The research- ers were reading aloud the questions to the students and were giving them sufficient time to respond. The total test time was about 20 minutes. Drinks and teeth hygiene: a school-based survey of children’s preferences of soft drinks and knowledge of dental health Bebidas e higiene dental: un estudio en escolares sobre las preferencias de consumo de refrescos y nivel de la salud dental S.M. PIPERAKIS, A. TRIGA, M. PAPANIKOLAOU, F. GARAGOUNI-AREOU, C. ROUSSI Department of Pre-school Education, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, piper@uth.gr