The purpose of this study was to compare self-perceived and clinically diagnosed dental health status of 12-year-olds in Kangnung city for improving efficiency of annual periodic oral health examination program of Korea. The investigation was performed on 2,928 1st graders of overall middle schools in Kangnung city. Level of self-perceived dental health status was asked with an interview and dental health status of each subject was examined by a calibrated dentist(intraexaminer reliability kappa = 0.93).
Obtained results were as follows.
1. Among 12-year-olds with highest 6% of DMF F index, 60% of subjects assessed their dental health as `normal´ or ´fairly good´ or `very good´.
2. Correlation of DMFT index with self-perceived dental health level was higher than-that of DT index, but the magnitude of correlation was weak. (rho = .25, p < .001).
3. Perception of dental caries lesion was low (kappa = 0.3, p < .001). Among those who have dental caries lesion, 12.5% didn´t know they were having active lesions.
4. Annual periodic school oral health examination program should be improved to enhance correlation between self-perceived and clinically diagnosed dental health status, to promote early dental caries treatments, and to strengthen the motive of preventive behaviors of individuals.
|