Recently, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KDCA) released a 2024 children’s oral health survey report, which showed that 6 out of every 10 12-year-old children had permanent tooth decay problems.
The survey was conducted between May and October 2023, covering more than 20,000 children aged 5 to 12, and evaluating oral health through dental examinations and questionnaires.
The data showed that the incidence of permanent tooth caries in 12-year-old children reached 60.3%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points from the data in 2021-22, and this proportion has been steadily increasing by 1 to 2 percentage points each year since 2015.
At the same time, the proportion of untreated permanent tooth caries also rose slightly from 6.9% to 7.3%, and the average number of caries per child remained at 1.9.
Among 5-year-old children who have not yet grown permanent teeth, the prevalence of deciduous tooth caries is as high as 58.3%, and the untreated proportion is 25.3%.
The South Korean government’s goal for children’s oral health is to reduce the caries rate of deciduous teeth to 55% and the caries rate of permanent teeth to less than 45%.
The survey also found that the oral hygiene habits of 12-year-old children are still not ideal. Only 22.6% of children brush their teeth after lunch, which is an increase from 15.2% during the epidemic, but still far lower than 33.3% in 2018.
The proportion of brushing teeth before bed is higher, reaching 72.7%. In addition, 58.1% of children consume sugary snacks such as candy, cookies and ice cream at least twice a day
29.4% of children drink carbonated drinks or energy drinks more than twice a day, which can aggravate the damage of tooth enamel. Worryingly, these two bad eating habits have continued to increase since 2012.
Only 43.8% of children have received oral health education at dentistry, which is slightly higher than 39.9% in the previous survey, but still below the average.
Ji Yingmei, director of the Korea Child Health Administration, stressed: “The number of patients with permanent tooth caries continues to rise, and children’s brushing habits and eating behaviors are still not healthy enough.
We must strengthen regular oral examinations and improve oral hygiene and dietary education for children and their parents.”