[Oral health in cariology and endodontics to the year 2000]

In 1978 the World Health Organization proclaimed the programme "Health for All by the Year 2000". In 1982 the International Stomatological Federation joined this programme with "Oral Health by the Year 2000". It comprises actual anti-caries targets for various age groups, e.g. 50% of 65-year-old subjects should have 20 natural functional teeth. Comparative investigations indicate that the above programme is successfully implemented in those developed industrial countries where it has become a matter of course for the wide public and where in its implementation also non-stomatological medical disciplines participate. The purpose of the present paper is to remind of some comprehensive coordinated aspects of caries prevention and some most frequent complications of caries, i.e. pathological conditions of the dental pulp and apical periodontium.