As indicated the theoretical framework for this study was built on the bases of the Health
Belief Model where it has been suggested that attempting to influence the regular tooth
brushing (twice a day or more) requires an understanding of the beliefs that strengthen this
behavior [18]. According to the Health Belief Model, previous investigators reported
contradictory findings. A group of investigators have found that the model was good in
predicting oral health behavior (13,17), while the others reported that although the model
could be used, its limitations should be recognized (11,16). Thus, we aimed to investigate the
model to see how this works in preadolescents. In fact our first hypothesis was that oral
health beliefs would have considerable predicting power in tooth brushing frequency in
preadolescents. The second hypothesis was to find out which constructs of the Health Belief
Model could predict tooth-brushing frequency in preadolescents.