In order to learn about the knowledge and attitudes of Japanese dental students concerning prevention of dental caries and dental education, a questionnaire study was conducted. The subjects were a total of 1571 6th year students in 17 Japanese dental colleges and schools, and we analysed their attitudes toward the community dentistry.
The results were as follows.
1) The rates of students who took a positive attitude to the main question of “Do you want to have your children participate in the fluoride mouth rinsing program in a future? (Participation)” showed wide gaps between Japanese dental colleges and schools (Max. =91.0%, Mini. =40.9%, Mean=65.2%).
2) The items which were correlative to the percentage of the students affirming participation were “Do you think that fluoride mouth rinsing is effective in the prevention of dental caries?” (“Effect”, Yes), “Which is more effective in the prevention of dental caries, fluoride mouth rinsing or tooth brushing?” (“Comparison”, Fluoride mouth rinsing) and “Were you taught about fluoride in a lecture on preventive dentistry?” (“Lecture”, well enough). Those results suggested that each item could be change by dental education.
3) A dental college which had a high positive score on the attitudes was selected for further examination. The change in attitudes of the students from the 1st to the 6th year was examined. We discussed which education factors were responsible for the observed changes in attitudes.