Longitudinal dental caries study in children 9–15 years of age

Abstract

A longitudinal caries study was carried out in a group composed of fifty girls and fifty boys. The children, who were born in the same year (1945) and permanent residents of the same town were examined at the age of 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 years. The yearly examination was done by the same dentists. Special precautions were taken to avoid a shift in the standards of examination. Proximal lesions were recorded from radiograms; pit and fissure lesions and free smooth surface lesions by intra-oral examination. The number of lesions at the different ages are given separately for each specific surface and in two degrees, i.e. the total number of caries lesions, and the number of lesions which show either a carious involvement of the dentine or a break in the continuity of the enamel surface.