A Study on How 12 Year-Old Children are Aware of the Dental Health in Seongnam city

성남시 12세 아동의 구강보건의식에 대한 조사

This study intended to identify how our children are aware of dental health and motivate them to learn reasonable knowledge about dental health. Furthermore, it also aimed to induce them to change their awareness and behavioral style about dental health, so that they may keep good habits for dental health for their lifetime. Total 1,044 samples were collected from children who were all 12 years old and lived in Seongnam city. During six months (June to December 2002), they were asked to participate in questionnaire survey about consumer behavior, knowledge, attitude, activity and self-diagnosis for dental health. The results of questionnaire survey can be outlined as follows: (1) The results of investigating consumer behavior for dental health showed that 34.5% of total respondents ever visited dental clinics once or more within latest one year, 21.4% ever visited dental clinics for the sake of prevention, 70.6% were instructed in dental health program, 31.7% were treated with the fluorination, 36.9% were treated with dental sealant, and 17.1% were treated with scaling, respectively. (2) For 10 items asking reasonable knowledge about dental health, respondents answered to 5.06 items on average. (3) For 10 items asking reasonable attitude for dental health, respondents answered to 5.41 items on average. (4) For 10 items asking reasonable behavior, respondents answered to 4.53 items. (5) For 10 items asking reasonable self-diagnosis for dental health, respondents answered to 5.65 items.