Abstract
The purpose of this retrospective study is to investigate and elucidate the relationship between previous dental caries experience of young adults (20~39years old) at the first visit and the number of treatment in the following 10 years.【Methods】Subjects were selected from the clinical database at Sugiyama Dental Clinic (SDC) as of Sept. 2013 and the number of treatments they received was investigated. As a result, excluding two patients who received aesthetic treatments during the maintenance period, 26 patients were selected based on the following criteria at the time of the first visit: aged between 20~39 years old, with 28 remaining teeth or more, with sound periodontia or initial periodontitis, and maintenance period at SDC 10 years or longer. Further, subjects were divided into 3 groups rested on the DMFT score at the first visit; A (DMFT = 0~5), B (DMFT =6~10), and C (DMFT≥11).【Results】The number of treatments subjects received averaging 3.8±3.90 for A (n=5), 5.0±5.01 for B (n=8), and 9.0±3.89 (n=13). As such, the numbers of the treatment incidents were significantly different (p=0.04). The breakdowns of the treatments also showed different trends: in the group A were seen relatively minor treatments such as fillings while in the group B and C more complex root canal treatment and major restorations and replacement for missing teeth were involved. The average treatment cost (based on NHI points) of group C amounted to more than 4 times as much, compared to that of group A. The result indicates a correlation between caries experience and frequency of invasive treatments during the maintenance period for young adult patients.
