Caries risk children in the Danish child dental service

The purpose of the investigation was 1) to describe the progression and pattern of dental caries among Danish school children with high caries experience in relation to comparable groups of children with low or moderate levels of caries, and 2) to study the possibilities of early identification of risk children from information on caries experience in the mixed dentition. Longitudinal data from the Public Child Dental Service in a representative Danish municipality were used. Data on caries among children have been collected each year according to the standardized Danish recording system. In 1983/84, about 10% of the children with a high level of caries (H-group), and 10% with a low level of caries (L-group) were selected from all school children at grade 2 (n = 595), grade 5 (n = 658), and grade 8 (n = 631). Gradual increments of caries were observed for all three cohorts of H-groups. On average, caries on mesial and distal surfaces accounted for one fifth of the total caries experience in the permanent teeth and, in particular, molars were affected. In the primary dentition, caries on occlusal and on smooth surfaces accounted each for 40% of the caries experience. Caries in primary molars was dominating. Attempts were made to identify caries risk children at grade 8 from information on caries severity zone or from total caries experience at grade 1. Low values of predictive power were obtained. Therefore the relevance of sociomedical and sociological methods in the child dental service should be studied.