| Summary: | 碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 口腔衛生科學研究所碩士在職專班 === 95 === Background：
In 1988 the World Health Organization set the 2010 global oral health goal which requires a DMFT index of less than under 2.0 of children under 12 years old. In Taiwan the DMFT index of children under 12 years old in 2001 was 3.31. According to the results of oral condition investigation in children aged under 6 years old in Taiwan, the mean deft index is 4.35, 3.67 in northern Taiwan, 5.25 in central Taiwan, 5.02 in eastern Taiwan, and 4.4 in southern Taiwan in 2006. The result of southern Taiwan is the closest to the mean index of the country. With the limitation of manpower and resources, we investigated children aged from 6 to 18 years old in southern Taiwan through a dental examination and a questionnaire to understand dental caries and its related factors so that we can further propose a preventive strategy.
Objectives：
We aimed to investigate the dental caries condition of children and adolescents aged from 6 to 18 years old in southern Taiwan on some relevant factors such as their diet, oral hygiene habits and experience of visiting a dentist.
Methods：
The main research group of this study, was children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years old who live in southern Taiwan. A total of 3,456 effective samples were collected. The method of this study was Probability Proportional to Size（PPS design）, using the same proportion random sampling. This study collected materials by oral examination and a questionnaire on diet, oral hygiene habits and experience of going to a dentist. The information was entered into a data base designed using Microsoft Access, and statistical analysis was performed with JMP5.12.
Results：
This study researched the condition of dental caries, aimed at children aged 6 to 18 years old in southern Taiwan. In southern Taiwan, the temporary teeth caries index and prevalence rate reduce with the increase of age（p＜0.0001）.The deft index of children aged 6 years old was 5.42±4.86, with a caries prevalence rate of 68.14％；the deft index of children aged 12 years old was 0.15±0.58, with a reducing caries prevalence rate which was 4.09％. The DMFT index was 2.27±2.48 in children aged 18 years old, with a permanent tooth caries prevalence rate of 47.67％, the permanent tooth caries prevalence rate rose with the increase of age. The important factors which influence children and adolescents aged from 6 to 18 years old are age of children, age of parents, the level of education, sweet food intake, oral hygiene habits and experience of going to a dentist.
Conclusion：
By analyzing the condition of dental caries, we can strengthen the awareness of tooth care. It also can enhance the dental health realization and behavior of children and adolescents, and encourage them to visit dentists for regular dental health checks. Therefore, dental caries can be discovered and cured more efficiently.
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