• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.254-262
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• 2003

Dental caries has a multifactorial aetiology in which there is an interplay of three principal factors: the host(saliva and teeth), the microflora(dental plaque) and the substrate(diet), and a fourth factor time. There is no single test that takes into consideration all these factors and can accurately predict an individual's susceptibility to dental caries. The risk of dental caries can be evaluated by analysing and integrating several causative factors. The objective of the study was to clarify the relationship between caries activity and the status of caries of primary teeth and the relationship between the quantity of S. mutans in the dental plaque and the status of dental caries. Forty nine children ages 5 were examined with caries indices, Dentocult-SM and quantity of S. mutans. The results were as follows: All the survey results were similar with national means of 5-6 years Korean preschool children. The deft index of subjects was 5.46 and defs index was 9.81. There was 8.6% of negative, 10.9% of mild, 28.1% of moderate and 52.3% of active results at screening strip test. 8.6% was negative, 17.2% was mild, 33.6% was moderate and 40.6% was active in site strip test. The Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.775, and overall kappa index was 0.496 between screening strip test and site strip test. There also was a high correlation between caries incidence, Dentocult-SM test, and quantity of S. mutans. Dentocult-SM test as a caries activity test is a reliable method for measuring the status of dental caries in primary teeth.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.199-203
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• 2018

Objectives: The market for bottled water is increasing steadily in South Korea. Bottled water contains several naturally occuring minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, and fluoride. Fluoride is proven to be effective in preventing dental caries. In South Korea, the maximum permissible concentration of fluoride is 2 ppm for bottled water and 1.5 ppm for tap water. The aim of this study was to investigate the fluoride content of different commercially available brands of bottled water in South Korea, and compare the measured fluoride concentration to the concentration written on the label of each brand of bottled water. Methods: Twenty-seven of the 59 different brands of bottled water produced in South Korea were investigated in this study. Three bottles of each brand were purchased from supermarkets, marts, and convenience stores in each region of Korea in August 2016. For each bottled water brand, the fluoride content was measured three times using a fluoride-ion selective electrode (Orion ionplus Fluoride Electrode 9609, Orion Research, USA). The calibration curve was generated using 0.2 and 2 ppm standard solutions, and confirmed using a 1 ppm standard solution. Results: The mean fluoride content of the 27 brands of bottled water was $0.374{\pm}0.332mg/L$ (range=0.040 to 1.172 mg/L). The fluoride content was labeled by the manufacturer, on each of the tested brands of bottled water. In eight brands, the labeled fluoride content differed from the experimental data. The minimum to maximum fluoride content measured from 10 brands showed a variation of 0.3 mg/L or more when compared to the labeled fluoride content. Conclusions: This study investigated the fluoride content of various brands of bottled water produced in South Korea and compared the measured fluoride levels with fluoride information on the bottle labels. To ensure that consumers are suitably informed regarding their exposure to fluoride, correct labelling of fluoride content in bottled water is important.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.136-144
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• 2018

Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze the differences in factors related to the incidence of dental caries between children in fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas and compared the DMFT and DMFS scores to confirm the effect of water fluoridation program (WFP) in Geoje and Changwon. Methods: The oral health examination and questionnaire survey were conducted in fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas. The number of surveyed children aged 8, 10, and 12 years in the fluoridated and non-fluoridated area of two cities was 1,524 and 1,383, respectively. Self-recorded questionnaires included self-perception of their own dental health, daily toothbrushing frequency, intake frequency of cariogenic sweet snacks and beverages, experience of gingival bleeding, experience of unmet dental treatment, and use of oral hygiene device except for toothbrush and toothpaste. The prevalence of caries and fissure-sealant status were surveyed. The logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the difference in children's self-rated oral health status between the fluoridated and non-fluoridated area. The mean number of sealed teeth and surfaces, marginal means of the DMFT and DMFS scores adjusted for the difference in the samples' sex distribution, and region were compared between the fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas. Results: In the fluoridated area, the experience rate of unmet dental treatments was higher among children aged 10 years, intake frequency of cariogenic sweet snacks and beverages were higher among the whole sample, and experience rate of professional fluoride application were lower than in the non-fluoridated area. The DMFT score for permanent dentition adjusted for differences in sex, region, and mean number of fissure-sealed teeth in the fluoridated area was significantly lower among whole samples and 8-, 10-, and 12-year-olds alone than in the non-fluoridated area. Conclusions: WFP can alleviate oral health inequality because it is effective in reducing the incidence of caries among children is disadvantaged demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural contexts.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.296-302
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• 2017

Objectives: The water fluoridation program has been implemented since 2008, in a region of Geoje City. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the water fluoridation program on caries prevention in the permanent dentition. Methods: Evaluation surveys were conducted on 8-, 10- and 12-year-old children in the fluoridated and non-fluoridated regions of Geoje City, in 2015. The survey included 834 children from the fluoridated regions and 703 from the non-fluoridated regions. The data obtained from the survey were analyzed using the IBM SPSS statistical package version 23.0. The effectiveness of community water fluoridation in caries prevention was estimated by the differences in the decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) and decayed, missing, filled surfaces (DMFS) scores, between the program and control groups. The mean numbers of fissure-sealed teeth and surfaces were adjusted to reduce their confounding effect. Results: The mean DMFT and DMFS scores (0.69 and 0.91, respectively) of 10-year-olds from the fluoridated regions, after adjusting for the numbers of fissure-sealed teeth and surfaces, were significantly lower than those of the 10 year olds (DMFT: 0.95, DMFS: 1.32) from the non-fluoridated regions. The effectiveness of water fluoridation on caries prevention in the permanent dentition, estimated based on the differences in the mean DMFT and DMFS scores, adjusted for the number of fissure-sealed teeth and surfaces, between the program and control groups of 10-year-old children, was 27.4% and 31.1%, respectively. Conclusions: These results suggest that the effectiveness of water fluoridation on caries prevention in the permanent dentition, in Geoje City was so high that this program should be implemented in other regions in Korea as well.