Fig. 1.

Relative preference for sweets versus brushing teeth (a) and fruits (b) in children and potential tailored and motivational messages to lower dental caries and obesity risk. Higher preference for sweets and brushing or fruits (lightest tint) – reinforce the positive behavior (liking brushing teeth or fruit) and modify the less healthy behavior (e.g., less cariogenic sweets, eating fruit versus sweets, decreasing sweet food consumption to lower sweet preference). Lower sweet/higher preference for brushing or fruits (middle tint) – reinforce this positive behavior and extend to other obesity prevention and dental caries prevention messages (e.g., consuming other foods such as vegetables and milk; fluoridation; physical activity). Lower brushing or fruit preference/higher sweet preference (darkest tint) – engaging child and family in dialogue to identify potential barriers to brushing and fruit preference. Motivational interviewing to identify the behavior(s) the child and family is/are willing to address to improve preference for brushing and fruits and/or methods to moderate sweet preference.