Objectives : The purpose of this study is to evaluate the appearance of having relationship between the exposure to lead and cadmium and the dental caries targeting adults in the Republic of Korea.
Methods : The study was designed as a cross-sectional study, using the data of the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects as 1,966 people, who were confirmed the appearance of dental caries among 1,991 people of having been offered the heavy-metal concentration in blood.
Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 19.0, according to complex sampling design.
Results : As a result of multi-variate analysis on factors of dental caries, in Model Ⅰ without correction,the gender, age, educational level, appearance of lifelong smoking, daily toothbrushing frequency,appearance of using dental floss, and subjective oral health status were recognized as important factors. In Model Ⅱ with correction of gender and age, the educational level, daily toothbrushing frequency, and subjective oral health status were recognized as statistically significant factors. In Model Ⅲ with correction of all factors, the gender, age, educational level, appearance of using dental floss, and subjective oral health status were functioning as statistically significant factors. As a result of statistically analyzing relationship between the exposure to lead and cadmium and the dental caries targeting adults, it was analyzed that there is no significant correlation. However, in case of lead, the tendency of being grown the cross ratio of dental caries could be examined in model I, which didnʼt correct disturbance factor, model Ⅱ,which corrected gender and age, and model Ⅲ, which corrected all variables of disturbance factor.
Conclusions : The exposure to lead and cadmium was indicated to have no relationship with adultsʼ dental caries. However, a continuous research of relationship was considered to be necessary by using Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is surveyed in the future.