Caries experience, dental erosion and periodontal status of Chinese adolescents

Abstract

AIM: To investigate the caries experience, dental erosion and periodontal status of Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. METHOD: Two calibrated dentists performed a clinical examination of new university students in a campus dental clinic of a university in August, 2008. The study was approved by the Independent Review Board. Purpose and procedures of this study were explained to the participants and written consents were obtained. Caries experience, dental erosion and periodontal condition were assessed using DMFT index, BEWE and PSR respectively. About 10% of students were re-examined to measure the inter-examiner agreement with Kappa statistics. RESULTS: A total of 433 students participated in this study. The male to female ratio was about 0.7 to 1, with a mean age of 20.1. The mean DMFT was 1.21 and more than half of them (56%) had no caries experience. Most (84%) had no risk of dental erosion, and only about 1% had medium or high risk of dental erosion. Only 2% had healthy gum. Calculus was found in 64% of the participants, amongst which 5% had periodontal pockets. The Kappa values for DMFT index, BEWE and PSR were 0.95, 0.75 and 0.69. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of caries in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong is low. The risk of dental erosion is low for most of them. However, their periodontal condition is poor in general, and oral hygiene instruction and scaling are necessary to improve their periodontal health.