What Is the Secret to Healthy Teeth for Elementary, Middle, and High School Students in Seongdong-gu?

Installation of the Nation's First School Toothbrushing Facilities in 2012, 12-Year-Old Permanent Tooth Decay Experience Rate Decreased by 28.9%p Over 10 Years (2012: 75.9%, 2023: 47%)... Post-Lunch Toothbrushing Practice Rate at 70.3% (Seoul 67.8%, Nationwide 63.9%) Demonstrates Excellent Oral Health Indicators in Seongdong-gu... Various Oral Health Management Programs Including Grade-Level Oral Education and Toothbrushing Practice, Correct Brushing Teaching Moms, and Xylitol Support Projects

Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jung Won-oh) announced that as a result of consistently promoting oral health management projects for more than 10 years since installing toothbrushing facilities in elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide for the first time in 2012, the oral health management indicators in Seongdong-gu have significantly improved.

Seongdong-gu began by investing approximately 700 million KRW of district funds in 2012 to install toothbrushing facilities in 37 elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide for the first time, and completed the installation of toothbrushing facilities in all schools within the district by 2013.

Since oral health in childhood greatly affects adulthood and old age, the district proactively installed toothbrushing facilities in schools to create an environment where oral care habits could be established.

The school toothbrushing facility activation project won the nationwide ‘Grand Prize’ at the ‘Community Oral Health Project Best Practice Contest’ hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in November 2015, and was subsequently expanded nationwide as an exemplary project for other local governments.

In addition, Seongdong-gu continues to implement various projects such as customized oral education and toothbrushing practice programs by grade to activate toothbrushing facilities and improve children's oral health.

Representative programs include ‘Proper Brushing Teaching Moms,’ where parent volunteers assist children with toothbrushing during lunch at school; the volunteer group ‘Oral Health Guardians’ to train specialized oral health educators; ‘Dental Primary Care,’ which provides prevention-focused oral care services including examinations, education, and preventive treatments; and the ‘Oral Health Experience Classroom,’ offering various health experience opportunities during school vacations.

Furthermore, Seongdong-gu is promoting projects to improve oral health for the general public, such as the xylitol support project, the Mansumugang Tooth Health Project, and focused oral health management for single-person households.

As a result of leading and long-term oral health management efforts, Seongdong-gu’s oral health indicators have been found to be higher than the averages of Seoul and nationwide, showing significant improvement in oral health.

According to the 2023 Community Health Survey statistics, the rate of toothbrushing after lunch in Seongdong-gu was 70.3%, which is 2.5 percentage points higher than Seoul’s 67.8% and 6.4 percentage points higher than the national average of 63.9%.

Additionally, the Seongdong-gu Dental Primary Care project showed that the prevalence of permanent tooth decay among low-income children decreased by 10.76 percentage points from 32.16% in 2012 to 21.4% in 2023, and the rate of toothbrushing immediately after lunch among children increased by 18.2 percentage points from 27.8% in 2012 to 46% in 2023.

The Seongdong-gu Oral Health Survey results showed that the experience rate of permanent tooth decay in 12-year-olds decreased by 28.9 percentage points from 75.9% in 2012 to 47% in 2023.

The rate of chewing discomfort among those aged 65 and older was 12.7%, significantly lower than Seoul’s 24.3% and the national 32.5%, and the proportion of the population reporting poor subjective oral health was 18.9%, which is 2.4 percentage points lower than Seoul’s 21.3% and 9.3 percentage points lower than the national 28.2%.

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, stated, “Proper oral care habits in school-age children are an important factor in improving quality of life and affect lifelong health. We will continue to strive to improve residents’ oral health,” adding, “We will do our best to create ‘Seongdong, a place to enjoy oral health’ where no residents suffer from oral diseases.”