in addition to the aetiological and preventive roles of sugar, fermentable
carbohydrates, and fluoride.
Key Points
Dental caries
- Epidemiology indicates the size of the problem of caries and changes over time.
- Since 1968 there have been surveys every 10 years of adult's and children's dental
health in the United Kingdom. - Prevalence and extent have fallen markedly since the late 1970s in many countries,
however, this decline appears to have ceased. - Dental caries remains a significant problem.
232H
Fig. 6.7 Caries
experience (DMFT) for
12-year-old children in
Nordic countries
(Reproduced from von
der Fehr (1994) with
kind permission of the
International Dental
Journal.).233H
Fig. 6.8 Caries
experience in Australian
12 year olds
(Reproduced from
Spencer et al. (1994)
with kind permission of
the International Dental
Journal.).