Dental Caries and Erosive Tooth Wear among 12-Year-old Hong Kong Children

OBJECTIVE:This study is to investigate the dental caries, erosive tooth wear status, and oral health-related habits of 12-year-old Hong Kong children. METHODS:This cross-sectional survey recruited 12-year-old children using clustered random sampling from three main districts. The trained examiner examined the children's caries status using the criteria recommended by the World Health Organization and recorded their caries experience using the decayed, missing, and filled tooth (DMFT) index. The children's tooth wear status was determined using the Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) index. Their oral hygiene practice was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS:We recruited 445 children and 396 children participated (response rate: 89%). Their mean DMFT was 0.29 ± 0.73. Seventy children (18%, 70/396) had caries experience (DMFT > 0) and they had 116 teeth suffered from caries. Among these 116 carious teeth, 75 teeth (65%, 75/116) were filled (FT), one tooth (1%, 1/116) was extracted (MT), and 40 teeth (34%, 40/116) were carious (DT). Five children had more than one decayed tooth (DT > 1), and one child had the highest number of decayed teeth (DT) at 4. BEWE results showed 284 (72%, 284/396) children had no erosive tooth wear (BEWE = 0). No child had severe erosive tooth wear (BEWE = 3). However, children consuming lemon tea or lemonade and vitamin C drinks 3 times a week or more showed significantly higher BEWE scores. Additionally, 380 (96%, 380/396) children brushed their teeth daily and 116 children (29%, 116/396) flossed their teeth. CONCLUSION:Most 12-year-old Hong Kong children had neither caries experience nor tooth wear, and their oral health-related habits were satisfactory. SIGNIFICANCE:This study updated the caries status of the permanent dentition of 12-year-old Hong Kong children. The information offers updated oral health data for the local, regional, and global authorities for planning effective public health programmes to improve the oral health of children.