A study on the oral health state and oral health care of dental clinic patients

치과 내원환자들의 구강건강수준과 구강건강관리 행태에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study was to examine the oral health status and oral health care of adults using dental clinics and the relationship between their oral health state and oral health care. The subjects in this study were 219 patients who visited dental clinics in Gyeonggi province between February and April 2008. A dental checkup and survey were implemented, and SPSS 12.0 program was utilized to analyze the collected data. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. The DT, MT and FT rates of the respondents who used oral hygiene supplies respectively stood at 30.7, 24.6 and 24.6 percent, which were all low. The gaps between them and the others were statistically significant. The DMFT index of the users of oral hygiene supplies was 12.3, which was high, but the difference between them and the others was not statistically significant. 2. The DT rate of those who got a dental checkup on a regular basis stood at 20.8 percent, which was low. The gap between them and the others was statistically significant. Both the MT and FT rates of the former numbered 28.8 percent, which was low, but the gap between them and the others was statistically insignificant. The DMFT index of the respondents who got a regular dental checkup was 12.8, which was high, and the gap between them and the others was statistically significant. 3. The DT and FT rates of respondents who had ever had their teeth scaled respectively stood at 24.6 and 27.1 percent, which were both low, and the differences between them and the others were statistically significant. The MT rate of the former was 27.1 percent, which was low, but the gap between them and the others was statistically insignificant. The DMFT index of those who had ever had their teeth scaled was 12.2, which was high, and the gap between them and the others was statistically significant. The above mentioned findings suggested that there was a very close relationship between oral health care and oral health status. Therefore people in general should be encouraged to pay more attention to their own oral health care, and they should be well informed about how to take care of the oral cavity to promote their oral health.