There have been many reports on the incidence of dental caries in infants, elementary school students, and junior high school students; however, few longitudinal studies have been carried out among senior high school students. This 2-year prospective cohort study was conducted to investigate factors associated with dental caries incidence in senior high school students. The participants were students who received a dental health checkup at a private senior high school in April 2016 (baseline) and April 2018 (follow-up) in Okayama City. An oral examination and questionnaire survey were conducted. We evaluated the relationship between an increased number of decayed, missing and filled (DMF) teeth during the 2-year period and oral health behaviors using logistic regression analysis. A total of 160 participants were analyzed [62 males, 98 females; age (mean ± standard deviation): 15.0 ± 0.24 years]. The DMFT score (mean ± standard deviation) at the baseline was 0.86 ± 1.75. Seventy-two participants (45.0%) had an increased number of DMF teeth at the follow-up compared with the baseline. Logistic regression analysis showed that an increased number of DMF teeth was significantly correlated with a number of DMF teeth ≥ 1 at the baseline, no fluoride toothpaste use, preference for a sugar-free diet, and visiting a dental clinic for oral care in the past year (p<0.05). In conclusion, our findings suggest that fluoride toothpaste use may reduce dental caries incidence in senior high school students.

 The present study investigated the practice of oral assessment and associated factors among visiting nurses to promote their oral assessment practice and interprofessional collaboration between nurses and oral health professionals through dental referral and consultation.

 The subjects were visiting nurses who worked at home-visit nursing stations. A copy of a questionnaire was sent to 1,000 randomly selected home-visit nursing stations with instructions to be filled out by a visiting nurse.

 A total of 206 (15 male nurses, 191 female nurses, mean age: 47.3±8.5 years old) participated in the questionnaire survey, and the response rate was 20.6%. More than 80% of the subjects performed oral assessment for home care patients who were elderly, had severe disability, had cardiovascular disease, had a feeding tube, or had a ventilator. However, these rates were low for adults (20-64 years old) and psychiatric patients. The rates of subjects reporting knowledge and use of oral assessment tools were 20.4 and 5.8%, respectively. More than half of subjects had problems with patients rejecting oral assessment, a lack of knowledge regarding oral assessments, and a lack of access to oral assessment tools. A higher rate of performing oral assessment was significantly correlated with more knowledge of oral assessment tools, more frequent usage of those tools, and a higher frequency of dental consultation (Correlation coefficient: r=0.153-0.361).

 These findings suggest that support from oral health professionals is needed in order to foster oral assessment education, including the appropriate use of oral assessment tools, and to establish an environment supporting dental referrals and consultations, thereby promoting the practice of oral assessments and collaborations between visiting nurses and oral health professionals.

 The purpose of this study was to investigate nurses’ trial use of a foam-type toothpaste with a high concentration of fluoride for their inpatients as well as their views on the topic.

 The subjects were nurses who worked in a psychiatric and a general hospital, along with the inpatients in their charge. The nurses tried using the toothpaste for the inpatients for one week and then completed a questionnaire regarding their views on the toothpaste. Information regarding inpatients’ views were obtained from nurses’ interviews with the inpatients.

 A total of 25 nurses and 109 inpatients participated in this study. The nurses used the toothpaste more than once day with more than one push’s worth of toothpaste each time for all inpatients. The majority of the inpatients (73.8%) reported perceiving moisture after use, and 74.1% felt that the taste and fragrance were appropriate. More than 80% of nurses felt that the toothpaste was useful for cleaning inpatients’ mouths and that it was effective for preventing halitosis. Nurses hoped to continue using the toothpaste after the 1-week trial for approximately 80% of the inpatients. They were more likely to desire to continue use for inpatients with a rinsing disability than for those with no disability.

 The results showed that the amount of toothpaste nurses used for inpatients was appropriate for preventing dental caries, most nurses and inpatients felt the toothpaste worked well, and nurses hoped to continue its use for most inpatients after the trial. Therefore, the usability of the toothpaste was considered to be high among both nurses and inpatients, and its continued use was expected to contribute to the prevention of dental caries and halitosis for patients in the evaluated hospitals.

 There have been a few reports on the association between activities of daily living (ADL) and oral function. However, there is currently no consensus regarding the association between the number of teeth, masticatory ability, or oral diadochokinesis (ODK) and ADL. In addition, there are some reports from a single facility, but not from multiple facilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between the oral function and ADL among elderly at multiple facilities. The participants were 61 elderly people using 6 welfare facilities in the northern part of Okayama Prefecture. We investigated the age, sex, degree of care required, basic illness, ADL, consumed food, number of teeth present, use of dentures, tongue pressure, and ODK. The consumed food were classified into two categories: regular and non-regular. ODK, each of /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/, was classified into two groups: “less than 4.0 times/second” and “over 4.0 times/second”. We categorized ADL into three groups: rank J as “independent group”, rank A as “semi-bedridden group”, and ranks B and C as “bedridden group”. The association between ADL and age was analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and that between ADL and other factors was analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. The severity of ADL was significantly correlated with the degree of care required, diabetes, osteoarthritis, food substances, and ODK /pa/ and /ka/. There was a significant correlation of food substances with ODK /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/ sounds. In conclusion, a decrease in ODK may lead to a worsening nutritional status through alteration of food substances and may be related to the severity of ADL.

 The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of dental caries in deciduous teeth and clarify the associated risk factors among nursery school children in Sapporo City.

 Oral examinations and a questionnaire survey on daily living conditions were conducted for children at 16 nursery schools in Sapporo, Hokkaido, who received dental examinations conducted from May to July 2018.

 Logistic regression analysis was performed for the presence of dental caries.

 A total of 1,537 children (730 boys, 698 girls, and 109 unknown) out of 1,764 subjects were analyzed. The number of people (prevalence of dental caries) in each age group was 32 (0.0%) for zero-year-olds, 171 (0.0%) for one-year-olds, 257 (1.2%) for two-year-olds, 350 (9.4%) for three-year-olds, 320 (24.7%) for four-year-olds, 330 (29.7%) for five-year-olds, and 77 (49.4%) for six-year-olds. At three and four years of age, the factors significantly correlated with dental caries were drinking sugar-containing water at least four times a month, other dental caries risk habits, and a male sex, with odds ratios of 1.69 (p=0.046), 2.08 (p=0.016), and 1.84 (p=0.007), respectively.

 At five and six years of age, the factor significantly correlated with dental caries was the lack of daily brushing by parents, with an odds ratio of 5.08 (p<0.001).

 In this study, it was shown that the risk factors for dental caries development were different for each age group. It was suggested that health guidance is important according to the risk factors for dental caries development in each age group.