Longitudinal Data on Eruption and Attack of the Permanent Teeth

Abstract
Detailed methods are descr. for analyzing longitudinal records of dental conditions. Serial records of 100 Cleveland school children, covering a period of 9 yrs., are studied. The results confirm the existence of considerable departures from straight-line development in the age curves for total teeth erupted and total teeth attacked by caries. It thus appears that age curves based on cross-sectional studies tend to mask the extent to which plateaus exist in individual children. The median eruption ages of the 14 tooth pairs indicate that the plateaus are caused by the marked "batching" of the teeth in respect to eruption age. Since serial records are of unique value regarding the effectiveness of treatment, the material on 266 1st permanent molars attacked before age 10 was studied in detail. Of the 121 treated teeth, only 17% were lost during the period studied, while among the 145 untreated teeth 88% were lost.