[Dental caries of primary teeth and life habits in Shinshinotsu Nursery School: three years of observations].
It is well known that there is a high positive correlation between increases in caries increment and life habits such as use of nursing bottle, tooth brushing, between-meal eating, and sweet consumption. The purpose of this study was to analyze data of caries status in primary dentition and life habits observed in 373 Shinshinotsu nursery schoolchildren aged 3-5 years over three years. Dental examinations were conducted in good natural light using dental mirror and probe. Caries was diagnosed according to the Welfare Ministry criteria and life habits were examined by a questionnaire. The mean number of df was 7.1 for the whole sample for three years and 17.6 of the children were caries free, whereas 47.3 were more than 10 df. The former group showed the best score for the frequency of between-meal eating, frequency of sweet consumption, tooth brushing habits, and frequency of fluoride application. The latter group showed a tendency to lower sweet consumption during the three years. Our data also showed that the life habits at nursing (use of nursing bottle and weaning period) influenced incidence of caries.
Saito
E
E
Wakizaka
H
H
Niwa
M
M
Miura
H
H
Watanabe
S
S
Igarashi
S
S
Ueda
I
I
Ito
N
N
D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D004037:Diet, Cariogenic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D014099:Toothbrushing