Dental health of Finnish immigrants in Sweden

Though foreign citizens today constitute 5% of the population of Sweden, very few attempts have been made to assess the types and amount of dental disease and treatment needed by different immigrant populations. A survey, including a clinical and radiographic examination for dental health, was carried out on an age-stratified probability sample of 170 Finnish citizens, 20-80 years old, living in the community of Huddinge, a suburb of Stockholm. The study showed that in the age group 20-29 years 90% and in the older age groups 60% of the dentate subjects had caries. All of them had gingivitis. 20% of subjects aged 20 to 39 years and 54% of those aged 40 and over had the diagnosis parodontitis gravis, indicating a time-consuming need for periodontal treatment. Periapical lesions were frequent and more than half of the root fillings present were poor. This study indicates poorer dental health and a greater need for dental treatment in this group of Finnish immigrants than in Swedish populations.