Abstract
In order to achieve caries-free in 3-year-old children, it is necessary to provide effective dental health guidance according to risk at oral health examination in 18-month-old children. The aim of this study is to clarify the influence of risk factors that affect the onset of dental caries from 18-month-old to 3-year-old by statistically analyzing the results of questionnaire surveys and oral health examination.
The subjects enrolled in this study were 560 children and their mothers who received oral health examination at both 18-month-old to 3-year-old health check-ups. It was revealed that five items,“prenatal oral health examination: no”, “frequency of eating between meals of child: 3 times or more per day”, “oral hygiene condition of child: fair or poor”, “smoking habit of mother: yes” and “mother’s knowledge of periodontal disease: no” were significantly related to the onset of dental caries during the period from 18-month-old to 3-year-old. As a result of structural equation modeling (SEM), it was confirmed that four items other than “smoking habit of mother: yes” were associated with caries in 3-year-old children. Furthermore, it was confirmed that “frequency of eating between meals of child: 3 times or more” had a slightly stronger influence than the other items.
These results suggest that it may be effective to provide health guidance during dental health checkups in 18-month-old children that takes into account the degree of impact on subsequent caries development.
