[Epidemiological analysis of periodontal disease. Analysis of junior high school and high school students].

Abstract

In this study, we carried out epidemiological surveys on some of the factors that seem to be related to periodontal disease in adolescence, and tried to clarify the cause of periodontal disease in young people. Moreover, the direction needed for effective education of school students in the field of school dental health was discussed. The subjects of this study were 232 junior high school students and 142 high school students. Oral conditions evaluated in terms of the PMA index, the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN) and the salivary occult bleeding level for periodontal disease, the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) for oral hygiene, and the DMFT index for caries experience. Psychological tests used in this study were the Yatabe-Guilford test (Y-G test), the Cornell Medical Index (CMI), and the Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS). The dental questionnaire developed by Maeda was changed to a simpler form and used to obtain information on personal aspects or parameters such as the ability to recognize one's oral condition, their knowledge of proper dental health, consciousness about and interest in dental health, dental experience and health behavior. The condition of periodontal disease and the OHI-S value tended to improve as the school grade went up, especially among junior high school students. Regarding the personal aspects the subjects who had knowledge of proper dental health, consciousness about and interest in dental health, and health behavior tended to show a lower PMA index; and there were differences in these parameters between junior high school students and high school students. Among junior high school students the results suggested that consciousness about and interest in such factors as gingival bleeding, bad breath and sticky feeling in the mouth caused better dental health behavior. In the psychological aspects, the PMA index value tended to be lower in the low-anxiety group than in the high-anxiety group. From these findings, periodontal disease in adolescence appears to be affected by not only the oral hygiene condition but also personal parameters and psychological factors. In school dental health, therefore, personal health guidance by the teacher in charge who knows the student well is very important in order to improve the periodontal condition, together with the correct examination and evaluation by the school dentists.