Oral health status and dental erosion of Chinese university students

Abstract

Objectives: To describe caries experience, periodontal status, prevalence and severity of dental erosion of Chinese students of a university in Hong Kong. Methods: A sample of first-year local Chinese students was invited to attend the campus dental clinic of a university in Hong Kong. A questionnaire survey was performed to investigate the determinants of their dental erosion status including socio-demographic factors, toothbrushing habits, dietary habit (such as frequency of consuming fruit juices and fizzy drinks), duration since last dental visit and self-perceived dental erosion status. A clinical examination was conducted to study their caries experience and periodontal status using Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index and Community Periodontal Index (CPI), respectively. Dental erosion was evaluated using modified Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE).

Results: Totally 700 participants were recruited. The mean DMFT score was 2.5±2.8 (±SD). The two commonest CPI scores were 0 and 1, affecting on average 4.7±1.7 sextants of the participants. Twenty-four students (3.4%) had moderate to deep periodontal pockets. Almost half of the participants (326/700, 47%) showed at least some signs of erosion (Maximum BEWE>0). Upper posterior teeth were the commonest teeth showing signs of dental erosion. Severe erosion (BEWE=3) affects only 2% (16/700) of participants. Logistic regression found age (OR=1.11, p<0.001) and self-perceived mal-alignment of teeth (OR=1.65, p=0.002) were factors affect prevalence of dental erosion. No correlation was found between self-perceived erosion status and BEWE score.

Conclusions: In this study, the caries experience in DMFT of the Chinese university students was 2.5. About 3% of them had periodontal pockets. Almost half of them had sign of dental erosion, but only 2% of them showed sign of severe erosion.