Dental Health: The Facts
Introduction
The major source of knowledge concerning the prevalence of dental health problems comes from periodic national surveys. In 1971-1974, the National Center for Health Statistics conducted the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) on a representative sample of the U.S. population. The survey included information concerning prevalence of caries, periodontal disease, edentulousness, and other dental health problems among children and adults. A 1979-1980 National Caries Prevalence (NCP) survey conducted by the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) assessed the dental health of U.S. school children aged 5-17. In 1983-1984, the Indian Health Service conducted a cross-sectional study of clinical patients to assess the dental health among American Indian and Alaskan natives. The dental health data that follows comes largely from those national surveys. Fluoridation data is collected and reported by the Centers for Disease Control. In late 1986, the National Institute of Dental Research will complete an Adult Oral Health Survey, which will provide updated Information about progress made in improving dental health among adults.
The prospects of prevention in dental health are encouraging. The use of fluoride at optimal levels before and after eruption of permanent teeth reduces the amount of caries an average of 50%-60%. Newly developed and under-utilized dental sealants can result in a 90% reduction in caries in treated teeth after one year, and a 55% reduction after six years. Lack of public and professional acceptance is a major factor limiting the effectiveness of these currently available prevention strategies.
Prevalence
Caries Children
The 1979-1980 National Caries Prevalence (NCP) survey of U.S. school children aged 5-17 revealed that, on average, a school child had at least 1 caries lesion in permanent teeth by age 8,4 caries by age 12 and 11 by age 17.
The NCP survey estimated the caries prevalence in the permanent dentition for U.S. school children age 5-17 to be 4.77 decayed, missing or filled tooth surfaces (DMFS) per child and 2.91 decayed, missing or filled teeth (DMFT) per child.
A 1971-1974 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) reported that children 1-5 years old averaged 1 primary tooth that was either decayed, nonfunctional-carious or filled.
School children aged 5 years in the 1979-1980 NCP survey averaged over 4 decayed or filled surfaces. Children 5-9 years old averaged 5.3 decayed or filled surfaces and 2.6 decayed or filled teeth per child in their primary dentition.
In the 1979-1980 NCP survey, 36.6% of U.S. school children aged 5-17 had no decayed, missing or filled teeth (DMFT), 39.8% had 1-4 DMFT, 15.9% had 5-8 (DMFT); and 7.7% had 9 or more (DMFT).
White children had more caries (4.89 DMFS per child) than children of other races (4.15 DMFS per child), according to the 1979-80 NIDR survey.
