Zheng Faith Miaomiao, Yan Iliana Gehui, Chai Hollis Haotian, Sun Ivy Guofang, Luo Bella Weijia, Chu Chun Hung
Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Int Dent J. 2025 Apr;75(2):613-619. doi: 10.1016/j.identj.2024.09.013. Epub 2024 Oct 5.
This study is to investigate the dental caries, erosive tooth wear status, and oral health-related habits of 12-year-old Hong Kong children.
This cross-sectional survey recruited 12-year-old children using clustered random sampling from three main districts. The trained examiner examined the children's caries status using the criteria recommended by the World Health Organization and recorded their caries experience using the decayed, missing, and filled tooth (DMFT) index. The children's tooth wear status was determined using the Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) index. Their oral hygiene practice was collected using a self-administered questionnaire.
We recruited 445 children and 396 children participated (response rate: 89%). Their mean DMFT was 0.29 ± 0.73. Seventy children (18%, 70/396) had caries experience (DMFT > 0) and they had 116 teeth suffered from caries. Among these 116 carious teeth, 75 teeth (65%, 75/116) were filled (FT), one tooth (1%, 1/116) was extracted (MT), and 40 teeth (34%, 40/116) were carious (DT). Five children had more than one decayed tooth (DT > 1), and one child had the highest number of decayed teeth (DT) at 4. BEWE results showed 284 (72%, 284/396) children had no erosive tooth wear (BEWE = 0). No child had severe erosive tooth wear (BEWE = 3). However, children consuming lemon tea or lemonade and vitamin C drinks 3 times a week or more showed significantly higher BEWE scores. Additionally, 380 (96%, 380/396) children brushed their teeth daily and 116 children (29%, 116/396) flossed their teeth.
Most 12-year-old Hong Kong children had neither caries experience nor tooth wear, and their oral health-related habits were satisfactory.
This study updated the caries status of the permanent dentition of 12-year-old Hong Kong children. The information offers updated oral health data for the local, regional, and global authorities for planning effective public health programmes to improve the oral health of children.
本研究旨在调查12岁香港儿童的龋齿、牙齿磨损状况以及与口腔健康相关的习惯。
本横断面调查采用整群随机抽样方法，从三个主要地区招募12岁儿童。经过培训的检查人员按照世界卫生组织推荐的标准检查儿童的龋齿状况，并使用龋失补牙（DMFT）指数记录他们的龋病经历。儿童的牙齿磨损状况使用基本磨损检查（BEWE）指数来确定。他们的口腔卫生习惯通过自行填写问卷来收集。
我们招募了445名儿童，396名儿童参与（应答率：89%）。他们的平均DMFT为0.29±0.73。70名儿童（18%，70/396）有龋病经历（DMFT>0），他们有116颗牙齿患龋。在这116颗龋牙中，75颗牙齿（65%，75/116）已充填（FT），1颗牙齿（1%，1/116）已拔除（MT），40颗牙齿（34%，40/116）为龋坏（DT）。5名儿童有不止一颗龋坏牙（DT>1），一名儿童的龋坏牙（DT）数量最多，为4颗。BEWE结果显示，284名（72%，284/396）儿童没有牙齿磨损（BEWE=0）。没有儿童有严重牙齿磨损（BEWE=3）。然而，每周饮用柠檬茶或柠檬水以及维生素C饮料3次或更多的儿童，其BEWE得分显著更高。此外，380名（96%，380/396）儿童每天刷牙，116名儿童（29%，116/396）使用牙线。
大多数12岁香港儿童既没有龋病经历也没有牙齿磨损，他们与口腔健康相关的习惯令人满意。
本研究更新了12岁香港儿童恒牙的龋病状况。这些信息为地方、区域和全球当局提供了最新的口腔健康数据，以便规划有效的公共卫生项目来改善儿童的口腔健康。
