[Study of living conditions, 1973. Some odontological results]

The central Bureau of Statistics has conducted an interview survey of the level of living in Norway in 1973. The level of living is made up of many welfare components such as: Employment, working conditions, income and consumption, housing conditions, health, education, etc. The purpose of this publication is to inform about results concerning dental health. A sample of 3874 persons born 1957 or earlier was drawn among persons in 4707 households which made up the sample in the survey of consumption expenditure 1973. The sample was a stratified, self-weighting two stage sample drawn among all private households in the country. The material and methods are described in English in the preface of the publication (Levekårsundersøkelsen 1973 1975). Because of the way of coding answers for time since last visit to dentist, the group: "During the last year" covers a period of 10-14 months. Very few had never been to a dentist and included only men in age group 67 years and more.Fifty-five percent of the total sample had been to a dentist within the last year in the south-eastern part of Norway. This was longer travelling time to the dentist in the sparsely populated middle and northern part of Norway. Almost equally many people had visited a dentist regardless of whether their self-assessed condition of their teeth was: Few fillings and restorations or many fillings and resotrations. The role of age is uncertain in these findings. The role of age is uncertain in these findings. One half of the persons with natural teeth said that they had few cavities and fillings.