back to contents The Prevalence of Dental Caries and
Pit and Fissure Sealant in the First Molar
Akihiro Yoshihara l)，Takeshi Sasaki 2)，Keiko Ota 3)，
Wataru Hagiwara 3) and Hiroshi Kishi 4）
1) Department of Preventive Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Niigata University
2) Health Center of Oshima, Hokkaido Government, 3) Niigata City Dental Society,
4) Public Health Department, Public Affairs Bureau, The City of Niigata
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to obtain basic information on the prevalence of dental caries and pit and fissure sealant in the first molars for an effective caries prevention program．
As sample subjects, 14,692 in total children (3,647 children aged 4 to 5 years in nursery schools or kindergartens and 11,045 children aged 6 to 11 years in elementary schools) were selected in Niigata city in 1995．The data on the numbers of teeth present，dental caries and pit and fissure sealants were obtained from their dental records．
The mean DMFT for elementary schoolchildren rapidly increased from 0.25 in the first grade to 1.58 in the forth grade．After the forth grade, however, this increasing tendency went down from 1.58 to 1.97 in the sixth grade. The changing trends in the number of questionable caries for observation (CO teeth) and pit and fissure sealants were similar to that of the mean DMFT. Furthermore, the percentage of teeth with pit and fissure sealants for each intact tooth was 19.3％in all grades. The mean DMFT in the groups with and without pit and fissure sealants was 0.75 and 1.33 in all grades, respectively. The difference in the mean DMFT between the two groups was statistically significant (t-test，p<0.01).
The results of the study demonstrated that a caries prevention program should be conducted especially for the first molars because of their high caries susceptibility, and also strongly suggested that pit and fissure sealant was effective in caries prevention. For making a more effective caries prevention program, a new system to apply pit and fissure sealant to CO teeth at dental clinics, on the basis of the data from regular dental check-ups, should be established.