Abstract
The purpose of this study was to judge whether the influence of dental health plans in municipalities on decline in caries prevalences in deciduous teeth of infants and promotion of dental health knowledge and behavior of mothers are stronger than the influence of community characteristics or not. Fifteen factors concerning community characteristics and eight factors concerning dental health plans in each municipality considered to have influence on the caries prevalence in 3-year-olds and the dental health knowledge and behavior of the mothers of 4 or 5-year-olds in Shizuoka Prefecture were selected as explanatory variables and analyzed using multiple regression analysis. A lower prevalence of caries was found in infants living in cities where families were larger and a higher proportion of mothers did not work. The health plans in municipalities, such as dentists and dental hygienists engaged in the health division, dental health congresses, dental health plans, evaluation of dental health activities for pregnant women and infants, dental health activities for pregnant women, health education by dentists or dental hygienists for the mothers of 1.5-year-olds, dental health activities for infants other than 1.5-year-olds, and fluoride applications did not have any influence on decline in the caries prevalence in deciduous teeth. Better dental health knowledge and behavior was found in mothers living in a municipality with more dental health activities for pregnant women, more health centers per capita, and more health nurses per caoita. We suggest that two plans in municipalities, namely dental health activities for pregnant women and fluoride applications, promote dental health knowledge and behavior in mothers. These results suggest that the influence of some dental health plans in municipalities on promotion of dental health knowledge and behavior of mothers are stronger than the influence of community characteristics, but that the influence of all plans on decline in caries prevalence indeciduous teeth of infants are weaker than the influence of community characteristics.
