Aim: To determine the prevalence of dental caries in Korean children with time after the introduction of the nationwide public oral health programme.
Design: Cross sectional oral health surveys of children aged from 6-16 years carried out in 2000 and 2006.
Participants: After stratified cluster sampling, 11,947 (2000) and 9,740 (2006) children aged 6-16 years of age were examined at school.
Methods: DMFT and fissure sealants were recorded according to the WHO criteria. The significant Caries Index (SiC index) was calculated.
Main outcome measures: DMFT, SiC index, and the prevalence of fissure sealants.
Results: The mean DMFT scores for the 12-year-old Koreans decreased from 2.86 in 2000 to 2.16 in 2006. The prevalence of caries free permanent dentition also increased in the same period. The average SiC index from 6-16 years also decreased. There was a 20% prevalence of subjects with fissure sealants in 9-11-year-old children in 2000. The corresponding figures increased to 40% in 2006.
Conclusions: The oral health of Korean children improved considerably between 2000 and 2006 through improvement in lifestyle and the strong public oral health programme, which should be continued in order to improve oral health in Korea