[Dental examinations in 4 and 5 year old children from nurseries and institutions]

The authors compared the dental findings (caries frequency and conspicuous malocclusions) in 201 institutionalized children and 399 kindergarten children aged between 4 to 5 years. It is true that the proportion of primary healthy teeth was greater in the institutionalized children than in the kindergarten children, but the dentitions of the institutionalized children were more frequently in need of care. Furthermore, in institutionalized children malocclusion associated with finger-sucking was four times as frequent as in kindergarten children, which is attributed to the living conditions in the homes.