Association between sleep habits and symptoms of oral disease in adolescents: the 2017 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey

BACKGROUND: This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the relationship between sleep habits and oral disease symptoms in adolescents. METHODS: Among 62,276 adolescents who participated in the 13th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2017), we selected a total of 54,766 adolescents (age, 12–18 years; male, 49.9%) for the final analysis, after excluding those who did not report their sleep duration. The 13th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey data were obtained from a stratified, multistage, clustered sample. Independent variables included general characteristics, oral health behavior, sleep types, sleep duration, and sleep quality; dependent variables comprised oral disease symptoms. Sleep was categorized according to bedtime astype A (bedtime < 1 a.m.) and type B (bedtime ≥ 1 a.m.). Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: After adjusting for all covariates, adolescents with type A sleep had a higher risk of toothache on chewing (OR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.02–1.15) than adolescents with type B. Adolescents who slept for 6 h or less each night had a higher risk of pain in the tongue and buccal mucosa (OR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.18–1.54), gingival pain, and bleeding (OR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.19–1.45) than those who slept for more than 8 h. Adolescents with low quality of sleep had a higher risk of toothache or throbbing (OR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.60–1.81), toothache on chewing (OR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.65–1.82), and halitosis (OR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.41–1.59) than those with high quality of sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that some oral symptoms are related to sleep duration and quality. It is essential to inculcate good sleeping habits in adolescents by emphasizing the effects of inadequate sleep duration and quality.