A longitudinal study of oral health in immigrant children in Sweden

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Abstract
Children immigrating into Sweden from Finland and Southern Europe (Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey) were subjected to a longitudinal study on caries activity and gingival condition. For each immigrant child a Swedish twin of the same sex and age was used as a control. Of 124 pairs originally examined, 75 were reexamined after a 2 1/2 yr stay in Sweden. On arrival in Sweden the Finnish children had more caries and a higher Gingival Index (GI) than the controls and they acquired more carious lesions during their stay in this country. Their GI did not develop less favorably than that of the Swedish controls. The South-European children did not seem to have more carious lesions than the Swedish controls on arriving, nor did they seem to acquire more carious lesions during the period of observation. Their GI was higher at the 1st examination but the change in this index can parallel with that of the controls. The children immigrating from Finland should be considered a risk group with regard to oral health.

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