Abstract
Insufficient information is available regarding the response of children to environmental changes. To analyze such responses in regard to oral disease in children, transmission of accurate information is critical. We previously reported first-visit patient statistics acquired at our pediatric dental clinic over three different 5-year periods (1992-1996, 1997-2001, and 2002-2006). In the present study, we analyzed first-visit patients who came to us during the 5-year period from 2007 to 2011 and obtained the following results.
1.The annual mean number of first-visit patients was 629, which was an increase as compared with that reported in our previous 3 surveys (first, n＝324 ;second, n＝462 ;third, n＝569).
2.The most common age at the initial visit was 3 years (12.2%). Children aged less than 6 years comprised approximately 55% of all patients.
3.Most patients travelled a distance of 5 km (30.5%) to the hospital. Those who traveled at least 15 km accounted for 26.0%.
4.Dental caries and pain were the most common complaints at the time of the initial visit (approximately 40%), which demonstrated a slight decrease as compared with our previous survey (ap proximately 50%).
5.The number of patients with df was higher than that reported in the results of a national dental disease survey.
6.Referred patients comprised 34.2% of the total, which was a slight increase from the number of patients reported in our previous survey (33.4%).
7.Those with physical or intellectual disabilities accounted for 2.0% of all new patients.
