Abstract: Objective: To investigate the caries status and explore the relationship between oral health behaviors and the prevalence of caries in children aged 3~5 years in Guangxi, China. Methods: A total of 1949 children aged 3-5 years were selected from kindergartens in Guangxi by using multi-stage stratified equal-volume random sampling method for oral health examination, and face-to--face questionnaire survey was conducted among parents. Logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between oral health behaviors and caries. Results: The prevalence of caries in children aged 3-5 years in Guangxi was 72.3%, and the mean dmft was 4.52. After adjusting for age, gender, parental education and place of residence, higher frequency of sweet snacks, sweet drinks and taking sweets before going to bed were significantly associated with higher risk of caries. After adjusting for oral health behaviors, urban children still have a higher probability of caries than rural. Conclusion: Children aged 3-5 years in Guangxi have serious caries. The frequency of sweet snacks, sweet drink intake, and the frequency of eating sweets before going to bed are related to children's caries. Oral health behaviors cannot fully explain the differences in caries between urban and rural children.

Key words: caries, children, guangxi, behavior