Journal vol.9 no.1 abstract2 of The Japan Health Care Dental Association

The Journal of The Japan Health Care Dental Association Vol.9 No.1, 2007
abstract

Shozo Fujiki, DDS

In order to assess the effectiveness of regular preventive oral health management for preventing the caries development, the sample patients were divided into two groups; one group who agreed to receive the regular oral health management and the other group who did not agree. They were assessed the severity of caries by deep caries and dental pulp extraction treatment. The sample patients were the children under 6 years old who visited the dental offices for the first time during the six years after January 1, 1990 and revisited them after January 1, 2005. The numbers of the patients relevant for the assessment were 48: Group A with 17 patients (with present average age of 17.9 years) who visited dental offices 5 times and more during 5 years from 2003 to 2007 and Group B with 31 patients (with present average age of 19.8 years) who visited dental offices less that 5 times during 5 years. More than half of patients in Group A had the caries free, while more than half of patients in Group B had DMFT with higher than 3. Group A showed 1 case of dental pulp extraction treatment resulted from trauma and 1 case of deep caries, while Group B had 9 cases of deep caries and 7 cases of dental pulp extraction treatment. The factors which prevented the caries from the progress are cited that the regular visit to the dental office (1) allows the dentists to tell the patients of the risk factors at the each age in advance, (2) handles local risk caused by the eruption of permanent tooth when the baby teeth molt to permanent teeth and (3) detects the indication of caries severity ahead of time by the regular radiography. Whether patients continue to receive the regular oral health management or not seem to depend largely upon the difference in the conscious mind of the patients by themselves and their parents. If the motivation to receive the regular oral checkup is provided, the caries development will be positively prevented.