Dental caries and gingivitis in second grade schoolchildren in The Hague over the period 1969-1981

In 1969, 1972, 1975 and 1978 dental examinations were carried out in the City of The Hague on cohorts of about 800 children from kindergartens and elementary schools in order to test a (dental) health education program. Since 1980/1981 weekly fluoride mouthrinses have been done in kindergartens and elementary schools in areas with lower SES. In 1981, a baseline dental examination for a follow-up study was carried out on about 500 second grade schoolchildren from areas of low and medium SES. In this baseline examination in 1981 a considerable improvement in dental health was found compared with the earlier cohort examinations, especially in medium SES groups. The average D3MFS value in 1981 was 1.53 and 0.92 for second grade children of the low and medium social level respectively; the average d3fs values were 5.83 and 3.42. Over the 12-yr period (1969-1981) a respective D3MFS reduction of 57.6 and 76.2% was found for low and medium SES. The percentage d3fs reduction for the primary dentition was 55.3 and 72.9%, respectively. In 1978 and 1981 the percentage of children without gingivitis was 26.8 and 31.9%. The difference in the number of gingivitis-free children between 1978 and 1981 seemed to be due to an increase in the number of children without gingivitis in the medium SES groups. A greater use of fluoride tablets was found in low and medium socioeconomic levels between 1972 and 1975, followed by a decrease in the period between 1975 and 1978 and another increase by 1981 compared with 1978.