Childhood caries is still in force: a 15-year follow-up.
OBJECTIVE
To examine changes in caries prevalence among 3 to 15-year-old adolescents.


METHODS
Of 1582 eligible mothers, 1443 gave informed consent. Participating children and their parents were followed up continuously from 3 to 15 years of age in a pre-planned fashion and at regular intervals. Data on dental health status were obtained from 1066/1287 adolescents (82%) during regular clinical dental examinations.


RESULTS
Dentinal untreated caries (D) was seen among more than 26% of the adolescents at 15 years of age. Altogether, 4.9 carious teeth surfaces were affected in each case (mean). Close to 18% of the adolescents (186/1066) had poor dental health (DMFT was 5 or more) and 26% (271/1066) had DMFS 5 or more.


CONCLUSIONS
Dental caries continues to constitute an increasing challenge in dental health care: any caries at 3, 5, 7, or 10 years of age was a predictor of poor dental health at 15 years of age.
Departments of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. malema@utu.fi
Mattila
M
Marja-Leena
Rautava
R
Paivi
Jaakkola
J
Sirkka
Ojanlatva
O
Ansa
Sillanpaa
S
Matti
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence