[Status of dental preventive efforts in Switzerland]

Regarding schools, the first endeavours of preventive dentistry based on the results of modern scientific results were made in the early fifties in the Canton of St. Gall. Great efforts have been made since then and it is impossible to keep track of all activities. At the schools it is the teachers on one hand and specialized or lay auxiliary personnel on the other who organize and perform supervised toothbrushing exercises with fluorides. In Switzerland there are now some 30 full-time positions for auxiliaries charged with preventive measures at Kindergarten or school. An estimate of the population reached by the various methods of prevention is presented. The costs of prevention are but a small fraction of the cost of conservative treatment. In the majority of the private dental offices prevention is part of the activity, but with varying intensity. As to public clinics, the preventive programm run by the Volkszahnklinik Basel is most advanced. It is important that prevention is introduced in all regions of Switzerland and that it reaches the children of all ages. The future depends strongly on the availability of auxiliary personnel working at the schools and in the dental offices.