School neighbourhood environment and dental caries among Hong Kong schoolchildren

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the relationships between dental caries experience and school neighbourhood environment. Methods: Forty-five schools were randomly selected from 18 districts in Hong Kong. Within each school all Form 1 and Form 2 (equivalent to US Grades 6 and 7) students born during April 1st to May 31st, 1997 were invited to participate in the study. Oral health assessment included a dental caries assessment by way of counting the number of decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) according to the methods and criteria recommended by the WHO. School neighbourhood environment was determined by the number of individual convenient store and the number of fast food restaurants within 5-minute walking distance from each school address. In addition, Social Deprivation Index (SDI) of each school address was determined. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between dental caries experience and school neighbourhood environment.

Results: Of the 668 student that were recruited in the survey, 205 (30.7%) student had dental caries experience (DMFT > 0); 96 (14.4%) had ‘high’ caries experience (DMFT > SiC Index); 42 (6.3%) had ‘very high’ caries experience (DMFT > SiC10 Index). The mean (SD) of number of convenient store, the number of fast food restaurant, and SDI of 45 schools was 6.1 (4.3), 2.9 (2.3), and 0.13 (0.01), respectively. No significant association between dental caries experience and school neighbourhood environment was observed (p> 0.05).

Conclusion: School neighbourhood environment is not associated with dental caries experience among a population-based sample of 12-year-old students in Hong Kong.