Prevalence of Dental Caries and Periodontal Disease of High School Students Aged 15 to 18 Years in Taiwan.

Po-Sen Chang,Aileen I Tsai,Chun-Jui Huang,Chia-Lan Hsiang,Hongmin Lai

doi:10.3390/ijerph18199967

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and distribution of dental caries and periodontal disease in Taiwanese high school students aged 15–18. A total of 1069 Taiwanese students participated in a cross-sectional nationwide dental survey. By using a stratified method based on the National Health Insurance administration regions, 24 high schools were randomly sampled in different areas of Taiwan. The participants were examined with dental mirrors and community periodontal index (CPI) probes without using radiographs, to measure dental caries and periodontal status. Demographic information and other relevant risk indicators for the two diseases were gathered via a self-report questionnaire. In this study population, the weighted mean decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) scores for ages 15 to 18 were 5.2, 6.1, 6.1, and 5.7. The weighted mean decayed, missing and filled surfaces (DMFS) scores were 9.0, 12.0, 13.1, and 11.2 at ages 15, 16, 17, and 18, respectively. Additionally, 88.2% of the subjects had periodontal disease, with calculus as the most prevalent type. Moreover, 5.2% of these students showed loss of attachment. There was no significant association between dental caries and periodontal disease. Dental caries and periodontal disease were prevalent among Taiwanese high school students in this national dental survey.

Highlights

Over the past thirty years, the economic situation in Taiwan has positively progressed considerably, and the health status of the people has greatly improved [1]
Dental caries and periodontitis are a dental public health issue affecting the whole world [2,3,4,5] and represent the major cause of tooth loss [6,7]. Both dental caries and periodontal disease status are two major items included in dental health surveys
There was no significant association between dental caries and periodontal disease at the subject level on either the community periodontal index (CPI) or loss of attachment (LA)

Summary

Introduction

Over the past thirty years, the economic situation in Taiwan has positively progressed considerably, and the health status of the people has greatly improved [1]. Dental caries and periodontitis are a dental public health issue affecting the whole world [2,3,4,5] and represent the major cause of tooth loss [6,7]. Both dental caries and periodontal disease status are two major items included in dental health surveys. Periodontitis is the inflammation of periodontal tissues, resulting in the formation of pockets, loss of connective tissue attachment, and destruction of alveolar bone [9]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion