2018 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 23-29
In 1981, the prevalence of dental caries and the mean number of carious teeth per person reached a peak in Japan, and dental health care providers were fully occupied with the treatment of dental caries. More recently, however, the dental health care needs of Japanese people have diversified as a result of increased awareness of oral health, improvements in oral health visits, and the efforts of dental health care providers. In order to determine the current dental healthcare needs of Japanese, it is necessary to understand socioeconomic trends in Japan, such as the acceleration of the aging of society, the low birth rate, and the increased life expectancy. It is also important to understand the living environments of people seeking dental care, the status of people presenting with oral symptoms, and their reasons for dental clinic visits. Dental healthcare providers are often kept fully occupied with their daily practice. It is difficult to say whether they have a full understanding of the socioeconomic influences on dental care or of the actual situations of individuals seeking dental care.
This study clarifies the official data on the status of oral complaints, and analyzes the dental clinic attendance behavior of people with oral complaints. The results reveal that while the proportion of people with subjective oral symptoms (toothache, inflamed gingiva or bleeding, and difficulty chewing) has tended to decrease in relative terms over recent years, the peak age group seeking treatment has shifted towards the elderly. The trend toward greater numbers of natural teeth in elderly people is predicted to continue in the future, which implies that demand for oral care among the elderly is likely to further increase. In addition, the proportion of people seeking treatment for acute dental problems has tended to decrease in those over 44 years of age. We also found that among the elderly, a high proportion of visits to medical clinics was for hypertension,eye disease, and lower back pain. When the occupation of the dental patients was considered, although there is a high incidence of oral complaints among unemployed persons, their rate of clinic visits remains low.
A pressing issue for the future is to maintain oral health by building an accurate picture of the oral status of people lacking access to regular dental examinations, such as occupational or school health checks, and of the elderly, and eliminating the causes of oral symptoms early. In order to realize this goal, it is essential that dental care practitioners consider the perspectives and individual situations of patients in order to optimally fulfill their roles as family dentists within the community. (J Osaka Dent Univ 2018; 52: 23-29)
