title: [Caries decline in Germany--causes and consequences].
abstract: The reunification of the two German states has resulted in social transformations in Eastern Germany after 1990, in the wake of which disadvantageous effects on oral health were to be expected. Contrary to the predicted caries increase, a caries decline in the juvenile population could be proven by epidemiological comparative studies (n = 50612) (decrease between 1983-1989 and 1993-1995 by 34.2%). The caries decline is probably caused by a broader availability of fluorides, a high level of individual dental curative and preventive care (fissure sealings) and by changed oral health behaviour and nutritional habits. Reference is made to a possible tangent between a high level of antibiotics consumption and the virulence of oral pathogenic streptococci.
authors.affiliation: Poliklinik für Präventive Zahnheilkunde, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Künzel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005457:Fluoridation / Q000639:trends; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000639:trends; D012922:Social Change
vernacular_title: Caries decline in Deutschland--Ursachen und Konsequenzen.