Dental caries experience and related risk indicators of 12-year-old students in Jilin, China

An effective prevention policy for dental caries is absent in Jilin, China because of outdated and insufficient data. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate dental caries status and related risk indicators among 12-year-old students in Jilin Province. We conducted a cross-sectional investigation among 2324 children aged 12 years from 9 regions of Jilin in 2017. Caries was evaluated with the decayed-missing-filled teeth index and the significant caries index. The rate of pit and fissure closure, education level of patients, brushing habits, and sugar consumption were evaluated in a structured questionnaire. The associated risk indicators of caries were also assessed through logistic regression analysis. The prevalence of dental caries is 56.11%, and the value of decayed-missing-filled teeth was 1.53. More dental caries was found in students living in high-fluorine areas (P < .01). The results of logistic regression analysis show that females, poor self-assessment of oral health, toothache experience, dental visits, and education levels of parents are risk indicators for caries (P < .01). Regarding the current status of DC among 12-year-old students in Jilin Province, (1) The high-fluorine areas have lower DC prevalence than the non-high fluorine areas, (2) Female students have higher DC prevalence than male students, (3) Poor self-assessment of dental health, toothache experience, dental visits, and low education levels of parents can increase the risk of dental caries.