DENTAL CARIES AND DENTAL CARE NEEDS IN BALTIMORE SCHOOL CHILDREN (1955)

¹ Bureau of Dental Care and Bureau of Biostatistics, Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore, Md.

A 1955 survey of 2,520 Baltimore public school children 6, 8, and 10 years old confirmed the findings of caries experience observed among white children in 1952. A difference in the prevalence of the disease between white and Negro children recorded in 1952 was not duplicated when one dentist examined the children of both races. Children living in relatively good socioeconomic circumstances experienced no less dental caries than those in meaner circumstances. An inverse relationship was found between caries experience and an index of oral cleanliness. Dental care in 8- and 10-year-old white children was related to their socioeconomic status but Negro children received very little eare at any age. Unmet needs for dental treatment were substantial at every population level.