Relationship between children’s state of oral environment and school dental activities —differences among schools in Niigata Prefecture according to school size—

Abstract

The effects of school health activities on the children’s state of oral health were investigated in a total of 299 elementary schools in Niigata Prefecture which had not yet expanded their school dental health program to include fluoride mouthrinsing. The relationship of the caries incidence of cares to the way each school is implementing its health program was analyzed according to the size of school.

The results showed that there was no difference in the incidence of tooth decay among pupils in the second grade or above regardless of the size of school. However, the school dental health program was carried out differently depending on the size of school. In small-scale schools, emphasis was placed on health supervision, while in medium-size and large-size schools, stress was laid on general health education and organized preventive action programs, respectively.

After the pupils were divided into two groups, one with many cavities and another with fewer cavities, the relationship between the caries incidence and school health activities was evaluated. As a result, it was found that the incidence was most closely related to activities associated with health super-vision, followed by those associated with health education.