THE INCIDENCE OF DENTAL CARIES AMONG FRESHMAN STUDENTS AT OREGON STATE COLLEGE

¹ Department of Foods and Nutrition, School of Home Economics, Oregon State College, Corvallis, Ore.

Freshman students at Oregon State College were given a dental examination, including posterior bite-wing radiographs, and the following items of interest were noted:

The dental caries experience of the 582 students, as compared with subjects of the same age groups examined at various geographic areas of the country, was considerably higher.

Female students showed a higher rate of DMF teeth and tooth surfaces than male students.

The teeth of female students had received greater dental care.

In general, the students at Oregon State College, although they had a high caries experience, showed fewer teeth missing and fewer teeth requiring extraction when compared with subjects from other studies in which lower rates of caries experience were reported. The better financial status of the families from which the students come, as well as other factors, is considered as an explanation.

The value of bite-wing radiographs as a diagnostic tool for the detection of various lesions was demonstrated.

Geographic division of the State of Oregon into six areas revealed that the students from the Coast Region showed the highest incidence of dental caries and that those coming from the Central Oregon region showed the lowest incidence of dental caries. However, from these data it cannot be assumed that this applies to the general populations of the two regions.