Abstract
Recently, a decline in dental caries prevalence in schoolchildren has been reported in the majority of highly industrialized countries. However, it is a problem that schoolchildren with a high incidence of caries still exist, although their number is limited. Therefore, it is necessary to guide and manage schoolchildren in consideration of their caries risk for oral health promotion. At two elementary schools in one town in Kagoshima, we carried out caries risk tests for all children during school dental examinations. We selected 211 children in the first to forth grades at the baseline who had undergone examination 3 times during 2 years. They were divided into two groups according to the DMF score at the baseline (DMF=0 group, 118 subjects; DMF≧1 group, 93 subjects). The saliva-buffering capacity and acid-producing ability of dental plaque were scored from 0 to 2, respectively, and the sum of each score was used as a caries risk index (0 to 4). In the DMF=0 group, the schoolchildren with a lower risk of dental caries showed a lower increment of caries lesions. There was a significant difference in the degree of caries risk between subjects who showed and did not show caries increments (Mann-Whitney's U test, p<0.05). In the DMF≧1 group, there were no significant differences in the degree of caries risk between the two groups. A high risk population was included in the subjects who had no caries lesions and appeared to have a good oral condition at the baseline, and children in such population showed a high rate of caries increment in the following two years. The results suggest that the caries risk tests in school dental examinations are useful to predict future caries development.
