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Oral health status and knowledge of only and non-only children in China

British Dental Journal (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives To evaluate the oral health status and knowledge of only children (OC) and non-only children (NOC), and to explore potential reasons for the differences.

Materials and methods This cross-sectional sampling survey included 3,731 children between the ages of 12 and 15 years. The oral health of the subjects was examined, according to the Basic Methods of Oral Health Survey (fifth edition) recommended by the World Health Organisation, and their eating habits, oral health knowledge and oral habits were recorded. EpiData software was used to input data, and SPSS version 19.0 software was used for analysis and comparison.

Results The incidence of dental caries and the decayed, missing and filled teeth index (DMFT) in OC (53.2% and 1.53, respectively) were significantly lower than those in NOC (56.2% and 1.86, respectively) (P <0.05). These values were highest in female NOC (63.7%). Gingival bleeding in NOC (78.9%) was significantly higher than that in OC (74.1%) and the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05). The pit and fissure sealant rate of the OC (17.9%) was better than that of the NOC (11.0%), and the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05). There were no significant differences in the oral health attitudes between the two groups, while the scores of the OC were higher than that of the NOC on eight questions of oral health knowledge and awareness, with statistically significant differences for five of the questions (P <0.05). In terms of oral behavioural habits and related factors, the OC scored better than the NOC.

Conclusions Our results show that the oral health status of NOC, especially female children, is worrying. When formulating health-related policies, it is necessary to consider these inequalities in adolescents and to provide more resources to the relatively vulnerable adolescents.

Key points

  • The oral health of non-only children is worse than that of only children in China.

  • More attention should be paid to the oral health of non-only children after the implementation of the Universal Two-Child policy in China.

  • Increasing the acquisition of oral health knowledge is one of the effective ways to improve the oral health of non-only children.

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Funding

This survey was funded by a grant from the Scientific Research Fund of the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China (201502002) and conducted by the Department of Preventive Dentistry, Hospital of Stomatology, China Medical University, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Dentistry, School and Hospital of Stomatology, China Medical University, Shenyang, 110002, China

    Kaiqiang Zhang & Jian Li

  2. Department of Preventive Dentistry, School and Hospital of Stomatology, China Medical University, Shenyang, 110002, China; Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Shenyang, 110002, China

    Zhenfu Lu

Authors
  1. Kaiqiang Zhang
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  2. Jian Li
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Contributions

Professor Zhenfu Lu acquired the funding for the project and played a role in the design of the study. Dr Kaiqiang Zhang was involved in drafting and revising the manuscript. Dr Jian Li participated in the collection and analysis of the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhenfu Lu.

Ethics declarations

The authors of this article declare that they have no competing interests. Ethical approval: all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent: informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Zhang, K., Li, J. & Lu, Z. Oral health status and knowledge of only and non-only children in China. Br Dent J (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-021-3477-y

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