[Trends in the prevalence of caries in Dutch children]

Have there been changes in the trend of caries experience among Dutch children in the late 1990s? To answer this question a meta-analysis was carried out on epidemiological data collected in 5-, 6-, 11- and 12-year-old children living in the Netherlands between 1980 and 1999. From results of the present analysis it appears that after the mid 1980s a halt in the decline of caries experience among 5- and 6-year-olds occurred whereas among 11- and 12-year-olds, the earlier decrease in mean DMFS-scores stopped in the mid nineties. No significant trend in the caries experience among children of Turkish or Moroccan origin was found.