dental caries ; high caries risk group ; SiC index ; 12-year-old Korean children
Abstract
Objectives. This study examined the characteristics of a high caries risk group of 12-year-old children in Korea.
Methods. The oral health status and interview data were collected from 1,755 children (888 males, 867 females), aged 12 years,
who participated in the Korea National Oral Health Survey in 2006. The DMFT values of the subjects were sorted. The upper
one third was selected as the high risk caries group (N=585) and the other two thirds were classified as the low risk caries group
(N=1,170). This study used the demographic and social variables, such as gender, area of residence and governmental support for
lunch in school. The variables for the oral health status, oral health related-consciousness and behavior were the number of dental
sealants of the first molar, self-perceived oral health, tooth brushing after lunch, average frequencies of tooth brushing per day
and the mean frequency of daily snack consumption. The associations between the demographic and social variables, oral health
status, oral health related-consciousness and behavior and high risk group were evaluated by logistic regression analysis.
Results. Most of the high caries risk group had less than 2 sealant teeth on the first molar (94.2%) and lived mainly in metropolitan
areas (46.8%, p<0.05). They had a poorer self-perceived oral health (41.8%) than the low risk group and more 2∼3 times the
snack intake per day (p<0.05). The determinants of the high risk group were whether the first molar was sealed (‘under 2’,
OR=6.05), self-perceived oral health (‘good’, OR=1.77, ‘poor’, OR=2.67), mean frequency of daily snack intake (‘2∼3 time’,
OR=1.31, ‘more than 4’, OR=2.34) and area of residence (‘city’, OR=0.79).
Conclusions. The characteristics of the high caries risk group in Korean 12-year-old children were less than 2 sealant teeth on
the first molar, poor self-perceived oral health, high snack intake per day and living in metropolitan areas