Dental Caries and Community Socioeconomic Status in Japanese and Chinese Children : An Ecological Study

• Published in: JOURNAL OF DENTAL HEALTH Vol. 66; no. 1; pp. 32 - 38
• Main Authors: An LIU, Michiko FURUTA, Kenji TAKEUCHI, Yoshihisa YAMASHITA
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Japanese Society for Oral Health 30.01.2016
• ISSN: 0023-2831
• DOI: 10.5834/jdh.66.1_32

Abstract: Our aim was to compare the dental caries status between Japanese and Chinese children and to examine the association between the community socioeconomic status (SES) and dental caries. We made use of data collected in national surveys in Japan and China. Japanese children aged 5 and 12 years old had more filled teeth than Chinese children. As a result of this large number of filled teeth, Japanese 5-year-old children had fewer decayed teeth than Chinese children. Japanese 12-year-old children who lived in communities with a high SES had significantly fewer dental caries than those who lived in communities with a lower SES. Conversely, in China, dental caries was positively associated with the community SES. This suggests that the association between dental caries and the community SES differs among countries.