GEOGRAPHIC VARIATIONS OF DENTAL CARIES IN OREGON

I. DENTAL STATUS OF NATIVE BORN AND REARED SCHOOL CHILDREN IN TWO REGIONS

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

Data from dental records of 741 native born and reared white school children of 14, 15, and 16 years of age in two geographic regions of Oregon have been analyzed and the findings reveal that:

1. There exists a difference of varying degree in the incidence of dental caries among school children living in two areas of the state, and that the more pronounced one was observed between Clatsop county of the Coast region and Klamath county of the Central Oregon region.

2. The dental caries experience of school children in both regions was found to be higher in comparison with that of subjects of the same age groups examined in other parts of the country.

3. In general, boys experienced a lower rate of caries attack than girls of the same chronological age.

4. The teeth of girls had received greater dental care although their dental caries attack rate was higher than that of boys.

5. Posterior bite-wing radiographs were taken of 505 subjects. They revealed 25.3 per cent of all the various surfaces requiring filling in these children.

6. No cases of enamel hypoplasia were discovered among the school children examined in both areas.