Dental caries in Danish children and adolescents 1988-94

The present study is based on data reported from the Danish Municipal Oral Health Service for children and adolescents to the National Board of Health from 1988 to 1994. Only data from municipalities with public clinics for children and adolescents and only age-groups for which reporting was compulsory are included. When each cohort was followed during the years 1988 to 1994, it was shown that caries increment had only decreased slightly in both the deciduous dentition (from 3 to 6 yr) and in the permanent dentition (from 7 to 15 yr) during the beginning of the period and was now almost identical from one cohort to the next. The distribution of individuals in four selected age-groups according to defs and DMFS has become constant during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. It is concluded that the constant decrease in dental caries in Danish children and adolescents observed during the 1970s and early 1980s has now come to a halt.