THE EVANSTON DENTAL CARIES STUDY

XV. THE CARIES EXPERIENCE RATES OF TWO GROUPS OF EVANSTON CHILDREN AFTER EXPOSURE TO FLUORIDATED WATER

¹ Zoller Memorial Dental Clinic, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.

1. The permanent teeth dental caries experience rate of the 6- to 8-year-old children was reduced 57.59 per cent after 71 to 82 months of fluoridation.

2. The 6-year-old children showed a reduction in caries rates of the deciduous teeth considered to be border line from a statistical viewpoint. The change in rates of the deciduous teeth of the 7- and 8-year-olds is not significant.

3. The 12- to 14-year-old children after 83-94 months of fluoridation showed a reduction of approximately 21.96 per cent in dental caries experience rates of the permanent teeth.

4. The reductions in rates shown in the maxillary anterior permanent teeth of the 12-, 13-, and 14-year-olds were considered significant. The differences in rates concerning the mandibular anterior teeth were not significant.

5. The permanent tooth surfaces with pre-carious lesions (per hundred children) in 1954 were approximately one half the number found in 1946.

6. The immune permanent dentitions increased over 200 per cent for the 12- and 13-year-olds. These increases are considered significant. The 85.15 per cent increase for the 14-year-olds is not significant.

7. The percentage change associated with the caries rate of the permanent teeth are only slightly dissimilar when expressed either as per hundred children, per hundred teeth, or per hundred surfaces.

8. Distribution of cases concerning salivary lactobacillus counts continue to be somewhat fluid in the low and moderate divisions but has shown a steady lowering of cases in the high count group.

9. The Evanston 6- and 7-year-olds of 1953 have a lower dental caries experience rate after 71 to 82 months of fluoridation than the Aurora 6- and 7-year-olds of 1945-1946 with lifetime exposure to water naturally fluoridated to 1.2 ppm.

10. It is anticipated that it will be at least 1957 before the Evanston rate of the 12- to 14-year-old group will approximate the Aurora rate for the same age children.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. L. Slack (a) The Nature of Dental Disease The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, January 1, 1958; 78(4): 476 - 483. [PDF]