Comparison of Regular Dental Check­ups of Children in Japan with Other Countries

Abstract

A dental check­up performed for a child patient generally includes tooth cleaning instruction related to the dental condition, eating guidance, professional mechanical tooth cleaning, instructions regarding caries prevention, topical fluoride application, and a bite­wing X­ray examination to reveal proximal caries. Such a protocol is superior to screening conducted with a large population for the purpose of preventing dental disease. However, the importance of regular dental check­ups is not well recognized in Japan as compared to other countries. I conducted a questionnaire survey in order to understand the current situation in Japan in comparison with other countries. The findings showed that the ratio of Japanese 12­year­old children who received regular dental check­ups was 44%, which was less than half of most other countries investigated. The main reasons noted for not visiting a dentist in Japan were because “the child had no cavities”, “large economic burden”, and “no time to spare”. In answer to the question “Has your child ever been absent from school because he/she visited the dentist for a check­up?”, 98% of the Japanese respondents answered “never”, which was also much higher than in other countries. Regular dental check­ups are considered to be less valuable in Japan as compared with other devel­ oped countries, with social and economic issues cited as primary reasons. Since improvements in oral health during childhood lead to improved oral health in adulthood, a major issue to be addressed in Japan is strategies to increase the rate of regular dental check­ups to the level seen in other developed countries.