About half of public elementary school students in Osaka Prefecture who were found to have dental health problems during school checkups failed to visit a dentist afterward, a dentists' association in Osaka said Thursday.

Students in 89 schools had serious dental problems, such as more than a dozen cavities.

"There are domestic reasons behind it such as poverty, parental neglect and the daily habits of students," said an official at the Osaka Dental Practitioner's Association. "The government needs to expand medical subsidies."

The survey was conducted in February 2015 on about 1,000 public schools in the prefecture, of which 192 responded.

According to the survey, of the 73,100 students who went through school dental checkups, about 24,900 were judged to be in need of a follow-up visit to a dentist due to cavities, periodontal disease or other reasons. But only about 12,300 students, or some 49 percent, actually made the visit while the other half did not, it said.

School teachers have reported that they have seen children who lack a sufficient number of teeth or sixth-graders who already have a dozen or so cavities in their adult teeth, adding that many of their families seem to be fighting to make ends meet.

The dental association has also surveyed public junior and senior high schools in the prefecture. The survey found that about 70 percent of junior high school students and 80 percent of high school students ignore requests for a dental visit.

"If we include schools that didn't respond, there may be more similar cases," the association official said.