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Knowledge of and Practices Related to Caries Prevention among Koreans
Author(s) -
Paik Daill,
Moon Hyocksoo,
Horowitz Alice M.,
Gift Helen C.,
Jeong Kwanglai,
Suh Sungsoo
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of public health dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1752-7325
pISSN - 0022-4006
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-7325.1994.tb01216.x
Subject(s) - medicine , stratified sampling , water fluoridation , oral health , mass media , family medicine , environmental health , health education , dentistry , demography , public health , fluoride , advertising , nursing , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , pathology , sociology , business
Objectives: This study assessed the knowledge and opinions of caries prevention and source of oral health information among Koreans. Methods : A questionnaire consisting of 36 items was used to interview 2,000 Koreans 10 through 69 years of age. Results for only selected questions are reported. A multistage, stratified, random sampling method was used. Results : Sixty‐nine percent of the respondents had heard about fluoride. Only 16 percent knew that some community water supplies in Korea are fluoridated. Fifty‐five percent of respondents who knew about community water fluoridation learned the information from television, whereas 28 percent read about it in a newspaper. Among those respondents who reported hearing about community water fluoridation, only 30 percent had precise information about its purpose. Fifty‐five percent of the respondents reported that toothbrushing is the best way to maintain good oral health. Almost all respondents (97 percent) reported brushing their teeth one or more times a day. Conclusions : These data indicate that there is a relatively low level of accurate knowledge about dental caries prevention among Koreans 10 through 69 years of age. The majority of respondents report learning information about oral health from the mass media.