Relationships between dental health behaviour of Japanese school children and their parents.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationships between dental care behaviour of Japanese children and of their parents from a community-based study.


METHODS
A survey regarding the use of fluoride toothpaste and experience of professional tooth brushing instruction (TBI) was conducted from October 2001 to February 2002 with 3,206 students living in Nagasaki prefecture.


RESULTS
The percentages of the use of fluoride toothpaste and the experience of TBI for all the subjects were 54.1% and 43.7%, respectively. Further, the odds ratios of the use of fluoride toothpaste and the experience of TBI were significantly higher among students whose parents had better dental health behaviour index.


CONCLUSIONS
The dental care behaviour of school children was found to be related to that of their parents. In order to reach the targets provided by Healthy Japan 21, various approaches for both school children and their families must be employed.
Fukuda
Hideki
H
Department of Oral Health, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-71 Sakamoto, Japan. fhideki@nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Shinsho
Fumiaki
F
Shigemasa
Akihiko
A
Saito
Toshiyuki
T
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D002327:Cariostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005190:Family; D005459:Fluorides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010290:Parents; D014099:Toothbrushing; D014100:Toothpastes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D002327:Cariostatic Agents; D014100:Toothpastes; D005459:Fluorides