Evaluation of the psychosocial status of students with dental fluorosis by parents and teachers / 实用口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To study the psychosocial effect of fluorosis on students with dental fluorosis.Methods:115 students with different types of fluorosis were sampled randomly from fluorosis epidemic area of Xingtai city in Hebei province, including 60 of 12-year-old and 55 of 15-year-old students. Dental fluorosis was classified by Dean's Index (DI). Parents and teachers of the selected students were involved in a psychosocial questionnaire investigation which included five five-point questions, respectively.Results:Prevalence of fluorosis was 89.6% in the young students in the area. Evaluation scores by parents, which included “health of teeth”, “satisfaction of teeth” and “perceived well-being”, decreased with the decline of DI. Statistical difference was found in the answer to the five questions by parents when comparing the evaluation scores of control(without dental fluorosis) group,moderate dental fluorosis group and severe dental fluorosis group(P0.05). Difference of the evaluation scores of parents and teachers on boys and girls was not significant.Conclusion:Fluorosis has psychosocial impact on students, especially evaluated by parents.