Post-examination Management State of Dental Caries in Elementary School Students in Conjunction with a Mother's Dental Health Beliefs

초등학교 치아우식 아동의 구강검진 후 관리 실태와 어머니의 구강건강신념과의 관계

The objective of this study were to evaluate the relation between post-examination management states of dental caries in elementary school students and a mother's dental health beliefs. We systematically chose 10 elementary school in urban and rural areas of Chungnam Province and determined the first class students of 5 and 6 grade in each school as study subjects. Among 837 participants, 669 students were diagnosed with dental caries after a 1998 periodic dental health examination was answered completely and analysed. The contents of the questionnaire for students were general characteristics, dental health behaviors, notification factors, treatment factors. Their mothers were surveyed by another questionnaire. The contents of the questionnaire for mothers were also general characteristics, dental health behaviors, and dental health beliefs. The result of this study were as follows 1. The prevalence of dental caries was 65.0% and there was no significant difference between urban and rural areas. 2. Meanwhile, 63.8% of students in urban areas knew the examination result through a doctor's explanation, 52.4% of students in rural areas learned through a school notification letter, 82.9% of all the students let their parents know of their dental caries. 3. Among the dental caries group, 36.3% of the students were treated as for treatment, most students in urban areas visited a dental clinic, but those in rural areas visited the dental dept of a public health center as for the treatment time, 35.9% of the students were treated immediately after the examination. 4. 44.9% of those treated answered that they felt they needed treatment; 67.2% of those not treated answered that they considered the treatment as a bother and unnecessary due to no pain. 5. Overall, the scores in the dental health beliefs in mothers were low. Especially among the 5 items of susceptibility and seriousness, the scored were very low but the benefit was high. Logistic regression analysis showed that the treatment of a child's dental caries was significantly associated with low scores of benefit in those untreated and high scores among those treated. Considering these results, health education to stimalate a mother's susceptibility and seriousness in health beliefs and for students to learn the need for treatment, including a more detailed post exam management system at the school level should be considered for a higher treatment rate.