• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.253-258
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• 2012

Dental amalgam is an alloy composed of a mixture of approximately equal parts of elemental liquid mercury and an alloy powder. Amalgam has been the most popular and effective restorative material used in dentistry. Despite the long history and popularity of dental amalgam as a restorative material, there have been periodic concerns regarding the potential adverse health effects arising from exposure to mercury in amalgam. Since children are more at risk for mercury toxicity, we aimed to assess the association between dental amalgam filling and urinary mercury concentration in children. 581 of elementary school children in grades 1st4th were conveniently recruited from two schools located in Daegu city, Korea. To obtain dental caries experience states, oral examination were conducted using the full term for DFS index, number of amalgam filling surfaces and the type of filling materials. A questionnaire was used to collect information about general characteristics and the frequencies of tooth brushing, gum chewing and fish/seafood consumption. The statistical analysis was done using the SPSS 18.0 program. The mean urinary mercury concentration in children having more surfaces was highest. As a results Urinary mercury concentration of children who have 79 teeth of amalgam filling and more than 10 is higher than without amalgam filling. The number of amalgam filling surface is closely related with urinary mercury concentration.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.55-61
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• 2015

Objectives : Yongdamgosam-hwan(YGH) has been used as a traditional medicine from old times for antiinflammatory effects. Streptococcus mutans(S. mutans) is known as a prime bacteria responsible for causing caries by forming a biofilm referred to as dental plaque on the tooth surface. But antimicrobial activity of YGH with dental disease is not sufficiently understood. This study was designed to investigate the effects of YGH ethanol extract on antimicrobial effect against Streptococcus mutans.Methods : The antimicrobial effect of YGH ethanol extract was assessed by the paper disk diffusion method and optical density method to determine minimum inhibition concentration(MIC), also observed by fractional inhibitory concentration index(FICI) and time-kill assay to figure out the synergic effect on the combination of YGH ethanol extract with antibiotics.Results : The YGH ethanol extract 500 μg was 7.5-8.5 mm diameter of clear zone of inhibition against Streptococcus mutans in a concentration-dependent manner and MIC was 250 μg/mL. The administration of the ethanol extract in combination with gentamicin and streptomycin induced a reduction of ≥4-8-fold in all tested bacteria. Furthermore, time-kill study was found that a combination of YGH ethanol extract with oxacillin and streptomycin produced a more rapid decrease in the concentration of bacteria CFU/mL than the YGH ethanol extract or antibiotics alone.Conclusions : As a result, the YGH ethanol extract has good antimicrobial effects. And the results suggest that YGH could be employed as a natural antibacterial agent in dental care products.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.101-114
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• 2023

Background: This study aimed to explore the overall perception of pit and fissure sealants and suggest methods to revitalize their current stagnation. Methods: To determine the social perception of the change in coverage policy for pit and fissure sealants, we categorized them into five time periods. The first period (December 1, 2009 to November 30, 2010), the second period (December 1, 2010 to September 30, 2012), the third period (October 1, 2012 to May 5, 2013), the fourth period (May 6, 2013 to September 30, 2017), and the fifth period (October 1, 2017 to December 31, 2022). We utilized text mining, an unstructured big data analysis method. Keywords were collected and analyzed using Textom, and the frequency analysis of the top 30 keywords, structural features of the semantic network, centrality analysis, QAP correlation analysis, and co-occurrence analysis were conducted. Results: The frequency analysis showed that the top keywords for each time period were 'Cavities', 'Treatment', and 'Children'. In the structural features of the semantic network of pit and fissure sealants by time period, the density index was found to be around 1.00 for all time periods. The QAP correlation analysis showed the highest correlation between the first and second periods and the fourth and fifth periods with a correlation coefficient of 0.834. The co-occurrence analysis showed that 'cavities' and 'prevention were the top two words across all time periods. Conclusion: This study showed that pit and fissure sealants are well accepted by the society as a preventive treatment for caries. However, the awareness of health education related to these sealants was found to be low. Efforts to revitalize stagnant pit and fissure sealants need to be strengthened with effective education.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.245-258
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• 2010

Smoking has been identified not as a major risk factor for circulatory and respiratory diseases but also as causes of various oral diseases. A number of clinical studies and regional health surveys have found an association between smoking and poor oral health status and between smoking and prognosis of dental treatments. However, there is few studies about status of smoking cessation treatment and policies in dentistry in Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the smoking patterns of outpatients and outcomes of short-term smoking cessation treatment in dental hospitals in Korea and, subsequently, to seek further smoking cessation services in dentistry. This study was sponsored by Korean Dental Association (KDA) and department of culture and welfare. 825 dental patients were voluntarily participated in a 4-week smoking cessation program with nicotine patch and 297 participants of them completed on smoking-related questionnaires. All participants were recruited from outpatients of 11 dental university hospitals (primarily in the department of oral medicine, oral surgery and periodontology) in Korea during 3-month period from October 2009 to January 2010. The Questionnaires included demographics, duration of smoking, heavy smoking index (HSI), number of thinking of quit smoking, duration of stop smoking and reasons to smoking, awareness of smoking effects on oral health, and their success rate after 4 weeks of nicotine patch program was investigated. The statistical analysis was carried by SPSS version 18.0 program and Chi-square test. According to the results of this study, male in their 30s to 50s were the most prevalent of all the participants and duration of smoking increased with age. Attempt rate to quit smoking (Quit smoking) was the highest in 30s and 40s with duration of quit smoking ranging 1 to 3 months. Emotional stresswas the most frequently reported reason for smoking, followed by habit and pleasure in order. All age group showed high HIS over 71% and awareness of smoking effects on oral diseases such as oral soft tissue diseases, periodontal diseases and dental caries was found relatively high (50~60%) Periodontal implant was the main reason for participation in the smoking cessation services in dental clinics and the success rate of, 4-week nicotine patch program of all the participants was 29.4%, extremely low compared to that of medical clinics. Systemic education for dentists to be able to provide interventions to quit smoking including counseling with the 5As'and development of available measures for smokers is needed as considered that the low success rate of the smoking cessation services in dentistry could be explained mainly by lack of dentists' strategies, experience and attention. Awareness and attention of dentists should be emphasized and their participation be encouraged by long-term, multidisciplinary policies such as establishment of insurance fee, which would made a considerable progress in preventing smoking-related oral diseases and promoting public oral health.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to examine the oral health state, oral health awareness and oral health behavior of middle school students in a bid to raise concerns about oral health problems in a local community and help ensure the efficiency of oral health programs. The subjects in this study were 662 seventh graders in 14 different middle schools located in the city of Hwaseong. The findings of the study were as follows: Frist, In terms of indices related to dental caries, DMFT index numbered 2.0. Secondly, as to subjective oral health state, 22 percent of the boys and 10.9 percent of the girls found their own oral cavity to be healthy, and the gap between them and the others was statistically significant different(p=.000). Thirdly, in regard to tooth-related habits, the girls brushed their teeth more often than the boys(p=.000). Fourthly, for snack-intake habits, the largest number of the boys ate between meals once(42.1%), and the second largest group of them did it two or three times(31.3%). Fifthly, regarding how they felt about dental treatment, the greatest number of the boys and girls replied there's nothing special when they were asked about their mood in case of seeing a dentist next day. The second largest group answered they would get a little nervous. As to mood while waiting for treatment, the greatest number of the boys and girls answered they would get a little nervous. In regard to mood while lying on a dental chair, the largest group replied they would be nervous. Concerning mood while lying on a dental chair for scaling, most of them answered they would get nervous.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.295-303
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of systemic oral health education on the improvement of knowledge levels and patient hygiene performance(PHP) for elementary school students. The randomly selected 1st and 5th grade students in a public elementary school of Taegu city were divided by education group(118 students) and non-education group(122 students). The oral health education lesson was systematically held on the education group once a month for 4 months. The questionnaire queried all the subjects about their knowledge and attitudes before and after oral health education, and PHP was also tested at the same time. Corresponding p-values were significantly considered at values less than 0.05. The obtained results were as follows: Due to the oral health education lesson, the education group of both 1st and 5th grade students came to have a higher knowledge level than the non-education group. There was high improvement of items such as toothbrushing time, toothbrushing method, cause of dental caries, treatment after tooth damage, and tongue-brushing. Therefore, these items should be educated to all the elementary school students. By increaseing the knowledge level of oral health after education, the PHP index in the education group was significantly decreased in comparison to the non-education group and hence the capability of oral health management improved. From the above results, a systematically and periodically oral health education system for elementary school students can improve the knowledge level and capability of oral health management. Further study will be required to develop an easy and acceptable systemic oral health education program for elementary schools.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.72-89
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• 1996

The oral health status and practices related to oral health among 44-54-year-, 55-64-year- and 65-year-old needy residents were assessed. The subjects were the residents at the Unbong Permanent Rental Apartment, Bansong-dong, Haeundae-gu. Pusan, Korea. An oral epidemiological survey was undertaken to determine the status of dental caries and periodontal health. Periodontal health were analyzed by the tool of CPITN (Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs). A questionnaire was used to interview for the practices of toothbrushing. The numbers of subjects were 192 for the interview on toothbrushing, 228 for the survey of dental status and 208 for the survey of periodontal status. The major results were as follows: 1. Toothbrushing frequencies per day were 1.9 among 44-54-year-, 1.7 among 55-64-year- and 1.7 among 65+-year-subjects. Percentages of after-meal-toothbrushings among total brushing frequencies per day were 73.7% among 44-54-year-, 70.6% among 55-64-year- and 76.5% among 65+-year-subjects. 2. DMFT indices were 15.5 among 44-54-year-, 16.4 among 55-64-year- and 26.6 among 65-year-subjects. Decayed teeth component of DMF teeth were 23.9% among 44-54-year-, 11.6% among 55-64-year- and 62.8% among 65+-year-subjects. Missed teeth component of DMF teeth were 55.59% among 44-54-year-, 62.8% among 55-64-year- and 77.4% among 65+-year-subjects. Filled teeth component of DMF teeth were 20.0% among 44-54-year-, 25.0% among 55-64-year- and 10.9% among 65+-year-subjects. 3. Sound permanent teeth were 16.4 among 44-54-year-, 15.6 among 55-64-year- and 5.4 among 65+-year-subjects. Present permanent teeth were 23.7 among 44-54-year-, 21.6 among 55-64-year- and 10.9 among 65-year-subjects. 4. Subjects who needed professional oral prophylaxis were 75.0% among 44-54-year-, 83.3% among 55-64-year-and 76.9% among 65-year-subjects. Subjects who needed complex periodontal treatments were 16.7% among 44-54-year-, 13.3% among 55-64-year- and 15.4% among 65+-year-subjects. 5. Sextants which needed professional oral prophylaxis were 59.3% among 44-54-year-, 71.5% among 55-64-year- and 71.5% among 65+-year-subjects. Sextants which needed complex periodontal treatments were 5.6% among 44-54-year-, 4.1% among 55-64-year- and 5.7% among 65+-year-subjects. 6. Systematic comprehensive oral health care services should be developed for old needy residents in urban area.