Abstract
In this study the factors of daily habits which have an influence on the dental caries of 3-year-old children were investigated. In addition the effectiveness of a guidance for mother on children's dental health at 1.5-year-old health examination was evaluated.
The 3-year-old dental examination was carried out at a Community Health Center in Niigata City from August 1979 to June 1980. At the same time the mothers of the children were asked about the following factors by the dental hygienist: i. e., the identity of the guardian, the order of birth, whether they had a 1.5-year-old health examination, tooth brushing habits (frequency/ day, brushing assisted by the mother, brushing just before sleeping), sweets and beverages (frequency/ day), use of a nursing bottle (period, sugar content, use at the sleeping time) and topical fluoride application.
Subjects selected for analysis were 1, 638 3-year-old children who had lived in the region handled by the East Health Center in Niigata city, a non-fluoridated area.
The factors which have an influence on the dmfs number were analyzed by means of the theory (1) ', that is a series of multivariate analysis. The partial correlation coefficient of frequency of sweets and beverages per day was the highest coefficient (=0.222 p<0.001), The second was the guardian factor (p<0.001), followed by the order of birth (p<0.05) and topical fluoride application (p<0.05).
The factors of the 1.5-year-old examination, frequency of tooth brushing per day and period of use of a nursing bottle were not significant. All the mothers whose children had received a 1.5-year-old health examination had been given instruction in dental health by the dental hygienist at the examination. The elements of this instruction included the following: 1) tooth brushing just before sleeping, 2) tooth brushing assisted by the mother, 3) frequency of sweets and beverages, 4) period of use of a nursing bottle, 5) recommendation of topical fluoride application. The rate of practice of these five items was compared between the group which received the 1.5-year-old examination and the group which did not receive it. There was no significant difference between the two group in daily habits but there was a significant difference in the rate of topical fluoride application.
