Dietary behaviour and dental erosion symptoms of Hong Kong people

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To study the dietary behavior, the knowledge and prevalence of symptoms of dental erosion of young Chinese adults in Hong Kong. METHODS: The target sample were people aged between 25 to 45 in Hong Kong. They were selected and contacted through a chosen list of registered telephone number generated by random procedure. Information about their personal data, dietary habit, dental visit behaviour, knowledge and symptoms of dental erosion was collected. RESULTS: A total of 520 successful participants were interviewed. The response rate was 75%. The sample error was ±4.4% at 95% confident interval. The age group with most respondents (41%) was 41 to 45, followed by 36 to 40 (24%). They took on average 5.4 meals a day and 36% took at least 6 meals per day. Fruits (89%) and lemon tea (41%) were their common food and beverage. About two third (64%) attended dental check at least once a year. A total of 71% of respondents had never heard about dental erosion and 73% did not know its symptoms. About half (53%) of the respondents mixed up dental erosion and dental caries. Majority of them perceived they had dental caries (79%) and experienced symptoms of dental erosion such as teeth became thin and turned yellow (92%). CONCLUSIONS: People in Hong Kong have frequent intake of food. Most of them had experienced symptoms of dental erosion. Despite most of them have regular dental visit, many are not aware of and have little knowledge on dental erosion.