How successful are surveys on the relationship between caries and sociocultural variables?

A combined dental and sociologic investigation was carried out in Leeuwarden, a non-fluoridated town in the north of the Netherlands. A large group of 14-15-year-old schoolchildren was clinically examined. To collect data on attitude, knowledge and behavior regarding dental health, the children were asked to fill out a precoded questionnaire. The mothers of the children were interviewed on these subjects. The sociocultural variables correlated slightly with the caries experience of the children. Only 13% of the variance in caries experience within the group of children could be explained by the independent variables. The single best predictor of the caries experience appeared to be the dental status of the mothers. Though human behavior is supposed to be a strong causal factor in the etiology of caries, this relation was not found in our investigation, just as it is absent in many other studies. The main conclusion is that surveys to estimate the relation between caries and sociocultural variables are of little value.