Dental IQ and Oral Health Care Status of Elementary School Students

Objectives： Oral health care program for the elementary school children (ESOHCP) should be met the first priority because dental caries are highly sensitive and prevalent among them. This study was performed to enhance the efficiency of ESOHCP, and their oral health promotion. Methods： The Subjects were 346 students (3rd grade 163, 6th grade 185) of one elementary school in Busan. Dental IQ and actual oral health status； the decayed, mixing and filling teeth were checked through questionnaire and oral health examination from April to June 2002. Dental IQ was presented out of one hundred, and data analysis was done using SAS (ver 8.1) program. Results： The students' cognitive level about the causative and preventive factor of dental caries was relatively high. However, the practical aspects of preventive behavior - tooth brushing； three times per day (20％), three minutes per time (22％), oral health examination； one time per three months (10％) left much to be desired. And, only 27％ of the subjects had experienced in school oral health education. The mean level of dental IQ was 79 out of 100, and 51 ％ and 42％ of them had the decayed and teeth with filling, respectively, with the rate of DMFT 82％, DT 43％, FT 57％. The level of dental IQ was higher in case of having his (her) own tooth brush (p＝0.072), standard tooth brushing (p<0.001) three times per day, post meal, three minutes per time, present experience of oral health examination (p<0.001) and dental clinic visit (p<0.001). The grade of caries was more serious in case of 6th grade (p＝0.059), an absence of his (her) own tooth brush (p＝ 0.090), present experience of oral health examination (p＝0.021), and an absence of regular dental clinic visit (p＝0.003). The frequency of oral health examination (γ＝ 0.620), tooth brushing； times per day (γ＝0.445), post meal (γ＝0.355), expending times per brushing (γ＝0.352), right cognition to the treatment of caries (γ＝0.401), positive attitude to dental treatment (γ＝0.387), the frequency of dental clinic visit for the past one year (γ＝0.152) showed significant correlation with dental IQ. In the multivariate analysis, dental IQ was influenced by the frequency of oral health examination, right cognition to the cause of caries, times of teeth brushing per day, right cognition to the treatment of caries, etc., with adjusted R2＝0.857. Conclusion： Though the students' cognitive level about the causative and preventive factor of dental caries was high, the practical aspects of preventive behavior left much to be desired. Ant the current ESOHCP considered to be still inefficient. However, frequent dental visits had apparent correlation with hish level of dental IQ. The specialized and practical program should be needed for the efficient ESOHCP. Harmonized effort from educational, health and dental society is essential.

초등학생의 Dental IQ 수준과 구강보건 관리실태