The Prevalence of Dental Carious Lesions and Associated Risk Factors in Chinese Children Aged 7-9 Years.

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence, severity, oral distribution, and associated risk factors of carious lesions in the pri- mary teeth in children in Jinzhou, China, aged 7-9 years.

Materials and methods: A total of 1603 primary school students aged 7-9 years old from public and private schools in Jinzhou were recruited using multi-stage, stratified, and random sampling methods for cross-sectional studies. Carious lesions in the primary teeth of school-age children were detected and recorded according to the World Health Organiza- tion standard, and a questionnaire was collected from a parent or guardian with information on the relevant risk factors for the child. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of factors related to carious lesions were estimated using binary logistic regression analysis (p<0.05).

Results: The prevalence of carious lesions in the primary teeth was 74.5%, the average number of carious lesions was 3.02, and dmft was 4.08 ± 2.74. There were 655 cases (77.1%) of dental carious lesions in boys and 546 cases (72.5%) in girls, and the difference between them was statistically significant (p<0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that the mother's educational level, brushing frequency, brushing time, and consumption of soft drinks, desserts, and sweets were all associated with a higher prevalence of carious lesions (p<0.05).

Conclusions: The children in our sample had a high incidence of carious lesions of the primary teeth, especially the man- dibular primary molars. Social demographic factors, oral hygiene habits, and dietary habits all play an important role in the occurrence of carious lesions.