[Investigation into the actual condition of outpatients. I. The environmental and oral health status prior to and at the first visit. Comparison of the results between present study and last investigation].

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the actual status of environmental and oral health conditions prior to and at the first visit of the outpatients who visited the pedodontics clinic of Tohoku University Dental Hospital during the period from April 1981 to May 1986, and to compare them with the results of the same kinds of investigation carried out 10 years ago. The subjects were 895 children, with questionnaires being filled out by their mothers. The following results were obtained. 1) As to methods of nursing, breast feedings have increased, while bottle feedings have decreased. The weaning period of almost all of the children was a period between 3 and 6 months of age, as the same as found during the last investigation. 2) The number of children who had eating and drinking habits at bedtime decreased relatively compared with the last investigation. 3) The majority of the children ate between meals twice a day regularly, eating fruits, senbeis (rice crackers), potato chips, and drinking milk frequently. These tendencies in the present study were almost the same as the results of the last investigation. 4) The number of children brushing more than twice a day has been increased compared with the last investigation, and most of them have been brushing their teeth after breakfast and before going to bed. 5) About 87% of the mothers of the patients thought that dental caries are an illness, but 8.9% of them did not. 6) As to caries prevention at home, the majority of the mothers were concerned about tooth-brushing habits and eating habits between meals. In conclusion, this study indicated that concern about oral health of mothers has increased in recent years.