A Study on Oral Health Knowledge and Behaviors of 12 year old Children in Seongnam City

성남시 12세 아동의 구강보건의식과 행태에 관한 조사 연구

The purpose of this study was to obtain baseline data for developing oral health education program. The questionaire about oral health knowledge and behaviors were given to 1419, 12 year-old children who lived in Seongnam City. The results were obtained as follows; 1) Of respondents, 46.2% visited dental offices within a year. And 33% of them were for the purpose of routine examinations and prevention. 2) 67.1% of them exhibited toothbrushing before bedtime and only 11.3% and 8.9% of them toothbrushed after between-meal intake and lunch. 3) 47.7% of them experienced dental health education programs and 72.3% of the programs had been during elementary school days. 4) 56.2% of them chose dentifrices without standards and 21.6% of them considered the presence of fluoride. 5) Of respondents, 57.4% and 46.4% knew the importances of toothbrushing and dietary pattern. But only 18.7% and 8.5% of them knew the methods of using fluoride and scaling. 6) 33% of them replied negatively to the probabilities of preventing dental caries. 7) Also, it is necessary to expand the oral health education programs for 12 year-old children in Seongnam City and include the annual screening dental examination, toothbrushing, dentifrice selection, using fluoride and scaling.