Effect of war‐time dietary changes on dental health of Finns 40 years later

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Abstract
During the Second World War the incidence of dental caries diminished due to reduced sugar consumption. It is possible that this reduction was more permanent in those age cohorts whose teeth erupted during the war because the teeth had an opportunity to mature before the caries attack. The aim of our study was to establish whether this reduction could still be demonstrated 40 yr after the war. The material consisted of consecutive age cohorts born in 1922-1948 from the large Mini-Finland Oral Health Survey representing Finnish adults aged 30 yr or over in 1979. The results showed a systematic difference in the number of caries free premolars and second molars between the age cohort born in 1931-1933 and the younger and older age groups in favor of the group 1931-1933, indicating that the first years after eruption may have had a long-term effect on the health of the teeth.