Distribution of Dental Caries in Children

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Abstract
The frequency distributions of dental caries among 1200 school children of various ages were examined statistically. Those for smooth surface caries could be described by the negative binomial distribution. The distribution of counts of carious pitted surfaces could not generally be described by any common probability distribution, although at some ages the counts tended to follow the binomial. The fit of these distributions to dental caries scores supports the concept that this phenomenon is a chance process involving some measure of differing individual susceptibility. Variation in the caries scores of pitted and smooth surfaces may arise from different sources, the first depending considerably on the morphology of the tooth at the time of eruption and the second to a greater extent on conditions affecting the tooth after eruption. By using the first term of the negative binomial distribution the average number of affected smooth surfaces per child may be estimated from the observed proportion of children free of decay.