[Selected etiological factors in dental caries among 18-year-old high-school students in Poland in the light of the results of the questionnaire and epidemiological studies].

The performed studies covered 1100 subjects being 18 years old (both girls and boys) representing large and small towns as well as villages situated in 13 provinces. The material and methods were based on the instruction provided by "WHO Basic Methods 1986". Answers given to questionnaire inquiries in the area of nutrition and oral cavity hygiene furnished an image of health consciousness and behaviours of 18-agers in Poland. Dental state and stomatologic treatment requirement jointly with the effects of stomatologic care were evaluated on the basis of the results established by epidemiological studies. The accomplished analysis encompassed the influence of sex, living environment, type of schools and variable content of fluoride in water, exerted on the pattern of the investigated epidemiological parameters. No correlation was recorded between health consciousness and behaviours in 18-year-old youth on the one hand, and the dental state as well as the therapeutic requirements on the other. The questionnaire responses and the epidemiologic studies made it possible to disclose some drawbacks in transmitting and introducing the education-health principles, which was reflected by not the best results concerning the health consciousness and behaviours particularly in male youth and in rural inhabitants. The dental condition is unsatisfactory in the studied population, despite being provided, in most instances, with permanent stomatological care. This indicates that optimization of adequate stomatological service is indispensable. A low percentage of youth with dentition does not predict good prognosis for them to achieve 3-rd health objective set up by WHO for the year 2000. The studies have confirmed the influence of big urban environment, with complete profile of stomatological care and water fluoridation, being exerted on the state of dental therapeutic requirements in 18-year-old youth. Difficult as it appeared was the detection of the sugars consumption role and that of oral cavity hygiene, in the course of one-stage investigation.