Caries experience of Danish children evaluated by the Child Dental Health recording system

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Certain features of child dental health care in Denmark are described. The caries picture and the caries distribution pattern in Danish children aged 2-15 yr are demonstrated and some regional variations are analyzed. The study is based on epidemiologic data collected in the school year 1977-78 from about 500,000 children being treated in accordance with the Child Dental Care Act. Data collection is effected annually under a child dental health recording system, and the aim and function of this system is discussed. The mean defs- [decayed-extracted-fixed surfaces] and DMFS[decayed-missing-fixed surfaces]-indices are illustrated for individual age groups reflecting the natural history of dental caries. Certain trends in relation to different geographical distributions of caries and in relation to different cohorts of children from 1972-1977 are discussed. The analysis of the caries picture is extended by means of the distribution pattern according to caries severity zones. The use of caries epidemiologic data for planning and resource allocation purposes is illustrated and some policy implications for the development of the child dental health services in Denmark are discussed.

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit: