OBJECTIVES: The water fluoridation program has been implemented since 2008, in a region of Geoje City. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the water fluoridation program on caries prevention in the permanent dentition. METHODS: Evaluation surveys were conducted on 8-, 10- and 12-year-old children in the fluoridated and non-fluoridated regions of Geoje City, in 2015. The survey included 834 children from the fluoridated regions and 703 from the non-fluoridated regions. The data obtained from the survey were analyzed using the IBM SPSS statistical package version 23.0. The effectiveness of community water fluoridation in caries prevention was estimated by the differences in the decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) and decayed, missing, filled surfaces (DMFS) scores, between the program and control groups. The mean numbers of fissure-sealed teeth and surfaces were adjusted to reduce their confounding effect. RESULTS: The mean DMFT and DMFS scores (0.69 and 0.91, respectively) of 10-year-olds from the fluoridated regions, after adjusting for the numbers of fissure-sealed teeth and surfaces, were significantly lower than those of the 10 year olds (DMFT: 0.95, DMFS: 1.32) from the non-fluoridated regions. The effectiveness of water fluoridation on caries prevention in the permanent dentition, estimated based on the differences in the mean DMFT and DMFS scores, adjusted for the number of fissure-sealed teeth and surfaces, between the program and control groups of 10-year-old children, was 27.4% and 31.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the effectiveness of water fluoridation on caries prevention in the permanent dentition, in Geoje City was so high that this program should be implemented in other regions in Korea as well.
Child ; Dental Caries ; Dentition, Permanent ; Fluoridation* ; Fluorides ; Gyeongsangnam-do* ; Humans ; Korea ; Tooth* ; Water*

OBJECTIVES: Dental plaque emits red fluorescence under a visible blue light near the ultra-violet end of the light spectrum. The fluorescence characteristics of each microorganism have been reported in several studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in red fluorescence of oral microorganisms that is affected by blood in the culture media. METHODS: The gram-positive Actinomyces naeslundii (AN, KCTC 5525) and Lactobacillus casei (LC, KCTC 3109) and gram negative Prevotella intermedia (PI, KCTC 3692) that are known to emit red fluorescence were used in this study. Each bacterium was activated in broth and cultivated in different agar media at 37℃ for 7 days. Tryptic soy agar with hemin and vitamin K3 (TSA), TSA with sheep blood (TSAB), basal medium mucin (BMM) medium, and BMM with sheep blood (BMMB) were used in this study. Fluorescence due to bacterial growth was observed under 405-nm wavelength blue light using the quantitative light-induced fluorescence-digital (QLF-D) device. The red, green, and blue fluorescence values of colonies were obtained using image-analysis software and the red to green ratio (R/G value) and red to total RGB ratio (R/RGB value) were calculated for quantitative comparison. RESULTS: The QLF-D images of the AN, LC, and PI colonies showed red fluorescence in all media, but the fluorescence of all bacteria was reduced in TSA and BMM media, compared with in TSAB and BMMB media. Both the R/G and the R/RGB values of all bacteria were significantly reduced in growth media without blood (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Based on this in vitro study, it can be concluded that red fluorescence of oral bacteria can be affected by growth components, especially blood. Blood-containing medium could be a significant factor influencing red fluorescence of oral bacteria. It can be further hypothesized that bleeding in the oral cavity can increase the red fluorescence of dental plaque.
Actinomyces ; Agar ; Bacteria* ; Culture Media ; Dental Plaque ; Fluorescence* ; Hemin ; Hemorrhage ; In Vitro Techniques ; Lactobacillus casei ; Mouth ; Mucins ; Prevotella intermedia ; Sheep ; Vitamin K 3

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the oral health behaviors and the relationships between social support, self-esteem, and oral health behaviors. METHODS: The institutions were selected based on the “2016 Elderly Welfare Facilities Status.” A total of 195 people participated in interviews conducted using a 39-item questionnaire. It included information on the following topics: a) sociodemographic and health-related characteristics (11 items), b) oral health behaviors (6), c) social support (12), and d) self-esteem (10). Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, a reliability test, a t-test, an ANOVA, a Pearson's correlation test, and a stepwise multiple regression, conducted using the SPSS 23.0 program. RESULTS: Of the 195 participants, 165 (84.6%) brushed their teeth twice a day; however only 74 (38.0%) participants used oral care products. Although many (64.6%) elderly people visited a dentist at least once a year, only a few (24.6%) visited the dentist for preventive purposes. Oral health behaviors had a positive correlation with self-esteem, significant others' support, and friends'support (.337, .270, and .254, respectively; P<.01). According to the multiple regression analysis, self-esteem, significant others' support, perceived health status, number of existing permanent teeth, friends' support, degree of exercise, gender, and average monthly expenditure had a significant effect on the participants' oral health behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that social support and self-esteem might be major predictors of oral health behaviors. These results suggest that psychosocial factors need to be taken into account in the oral health education provided for elderly people.
Aged* ; Dentists ; Education ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Oral Health* ; Psychology ; Tooth

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the caries prediction validity and between-observer reliability of caries activity tests using sulfisomidine-containing acidic high sucrose liquid medium (SAHS test). METHODS: This longitudinal follow-up study was done for 1 year. The subjects were 188 elementary school children. The caries experience and caries activity of each of the subjects was examined. We adopted both the SAHS test and Dentocult SM test as caries activity tests. We conducted an ROC analysis on the test data, and thereafter calculated the sensitivity, specificity, predictive value, and Kappa statistics. RESULTS: According to the ROC analysis, it was found that both the SAHS test and Dentocult SM test showed a similar level of AUC (0.5 or higher), which means that both tests have significant caries prediction validity. When the validating criterion was based on 1 or more new caries lesions and the screening criterion was based on a score of 5, it was found that the SAHS test (12 grade) showed a sensitivity value of 0.72-0.73, specificity value of 0.48-0.51, positive predictive value of 0.62-0.63, and negative predictive value of 0.61-0.62, respectively. Based on these 4 values, it was found that the SAHS test had a higher grade of sensitivity and negative predictive value than the Dentocult SM test. However, the latter had a higher grade of specificity and positive predictive value. Despite this, there were no significant differences between both tests. The SAHS test had higher between-observer reliability (kappa value) than the Dentocult SM test (0.90>0.88). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, it was found that both the SAHS test and Dentocult SM test had a similar level of caries prediction validity and between-observer reliability.
Area Under Curve ; Child ; Colorimetry ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sucrose*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the amount and rate of cumulative fluoride released over a period of 4 h from several varnishes marketed in Korea. METHODS: The following six commercial products were studied: cavity shield (CS, 22,600 ppm F), V varnish (VV, 22,600 ppm F), enamel pro varnish (EP, 22,600 ppm F), MI varnish (MI, 22600 ppm F), fluorine care (FC, 22600 ppm F), and fluor protector N (FP, 7700 ppm F). Five samples were collected from each varnish. Further, 10 mg of each varnish were applied onto an acrylic surface (diameter, 5 mm) and then immersed in 20 mL of distilled water at 37degrees C. The fluoride concentration in each sample was then analyzed after 30 min, 1, 2, 3, and 4 h, and after 4 days of exposure. RESULTS: The cumulative amount of fluoride released by FC (5.64+/-1.10 ppm) was significantly higher than that released by other products after 30 min. FC (8.55+/-1.85 ppm) and MI (8.21+/-0.81 ppm) released a significantly higher cumulative amount of fluoride after 4 h. The cumulative rate of fluoride released by FC (47.80+/-9.35%) was significantly higher than that of other products after 30 min. FC (72.44+/-15.68%) and MI (69.54+/-6.88%) showed a higher cumulative fluoride release rate after 4 h. MI sustainably released fluoride after 4 h and demonstrated a high fluoride release rate of 95.76%. CONCLUSIONS: The cumulative amount and rate of fluoride released by several varnishes were statistically significant at each time point. This data can be used by clinicians prior to selection of dental products.
Dental Enamel ; Fluorides* ; Fluorine ; Korea ; Paint* ; Water

No abstract available.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to analyze the factors that are related to the illegal dental treatment experience (IDTX), among the Korean adults. METHODS: The raw data for the analysis of IDTX, among the Korean adults, which were aged 17 years and over, were obtained from the dataset of the Korean National Oral Health Survey (KNOHS), which was conducted in 2006. Stratified weighted total 11,808 samples were selected by region and clustered sampling methods. The data of weighted total 11,808 samples were analyzed, using a chi-square test and a logistic regression analysis, by demographic socioeconomic variables of age, gender, area, educational level, occupation, national health insurance, and monthly income. RESULTS: IDTX rate was under 10%, among the adults aged 35~44 years or below the age group. However, it increased to 18.9%, among the adults aged 45~54 years and overtook over 30% among the adults 55 years and over. The age group of high IDTX rate was coincided to the age group of high number of lost teeth. Most of IDTX were presumed to prosthetic treatments. In IDTX rate of samples, aged 45 years and over, odds ratio of females' was 1.3, compared to that of the males'; odds ratio of metropolitan area, 1.2 compared to rural area. IDTX rate was higher among the middle school or below educational level group compared to that of college or over educational level group. IDTX rate of medicaid or not joined to national health insurance group was 31.3%, higher than that of national health insurance group. IDTX rates of low monthly income group, less than 4 million KRW were higher than monthly income group of 4 million KRW or more. CONCLUSIONS: To supply the prosthetic treatments for the population of medicaid and national health insurance is needed to remove illegal dental treatments in Korea.
Adult ; Aged ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Medicaid ; National Health Programs ; Occupations ; Odds Ratio ; Oral Health ; Tooth

OBJECTIVES: Traditional nonparametric efficiency analysis was based on the relationship between the quantitative input and output measures. This study performed nonparametric efficiency analysis, which uses the results of dental hospital accreditation with quantitative output measures. METHODS: Data came from 35 hospitals between 2008 and 2010 that participated in the demonstration projects of dental hospital accreditation. The study employed two-stage double bootstrapping (TSDB) method to overcome the shortcomings and biased results of the traditional Data Envelope Analysis (DEA). Input measures included staffs, dental hygienists, other chair-side assistants, and administrative personnel, as well as dental equipment (dental chairs). Production measures were total revenues and the number of patients that visited the participating hospitals. We considered the environmental variables, which would affect the efficiency score of dental hospitals, dental hospital types, accreditation scores, and patients' satisfaction scores. RESULTS: There was a large split between the traditional DEA scores and TSDB scores. A total of 22 out of 35 hospitals had perfect efficiency in the traditional method, but none of those showed 100% efficiency in the TSDB. Overall efficiency score was the highest in the dental facility of general hospitals (71% mean efficiency), and dental teaching hospitals were the lowest (55% mean efficiency score). The factors that affected the efficiency of dental hospitals were the types of the dental hospital and the accreditation score. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional DEA scores had biased estimates and tended to be higher. The study found that organizational efforts for improving service qualities and patient safety would affect the efficiency, as well as the accreditation results.
Accreditation ; Administrative Personnel ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Dental Equipment ; Dental Facilities ; Dental Staff ; Hospitals, General ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Patient Safety ; Porphyrins

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to heighten the community residents' support and approval on the community water fluoridation program, which presents the basic data in devising strategies that will expand the program. METHODS: The research subjects of this study were 700 adults, over the age of 20, who resided in the Incheon Metropolitan City. In order to analyze the factors that were related to the approval on administering the community water fluoridation program, the data were analyzed using a chi-squared test and a multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Respondents approving the implementation of the community water fluoridation program, in Incheon Metropolitan City, were 58.7%. Major reasons for opposing the program were 'harmful', 'influence the taste and color of water', and 'objections without a particular reason'. The approval rate for implementation of the program was higher in the group who perceived that oral health was good and practiced oral health behaviors, like visiting the dental clinics on a regular basis. Also, it was higher in the group who had the experience of hearing of this program at least once and a higher knowledge of the community water fluoridation program. Especially, the strongest correlations were found between the knowledge of community water fluoridation program and the approval rate for implementation the program. CONCLUSIONS: In order to enhance the rate of approval on administrating the community water fluoridation program, it is necessary to publicize the purpose, effect, and stability of this program, through a diverse mass media and reinforce the health education program to oral health management.
Adult ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Dental Caries ; Dental Clinics ; Fluoridation ; Health Education ; Hearing ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Mass Media ; Oral Health ; Research Subjects

OBJECTIVES: The object of this study was to determine the reasons for tooth extractions of permanent teeth in Korea. METHODS: 2009 National patient samples (NPS) data were obtained for patients from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment (HIRA). We conducted a frequency analysis of the reasons for 93,176 permanent teeth extraction. RESULTS: Overall, periodontal disease was the most frequent reason for tooth extraction (54.9%), followed by dental caries (38.4%). The males lost more teeth, due to periodontal disease than the females. In the below 30 age groups, caries was the main reason for tooth extraction. However, periodontal disease was remarkably increasing in those aged that were 30 year old and over. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the permanent teeth are extracted, due to caries and periodontal disease. Furthermore, there has been no efficient way of prevention for periodontal disease in public health activities, which targeted the population of the middle age group. Such method might be required.
Aged ; Dental Caries ; Female ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Periodontal Diseases ; Public Health ; Tooth ; Tooth Extraction