Dental caries prevalence in 5-year-old children in Barnsley Area, England.

It is important that baseline studies of dental caries prevalence are available prior to the introduction of community water fluoridation. This survey was carried out during the winter of 1975/76 in the low-fluoride Barnsley Area (F= 0.1 parts/10(6)). Caries prevalence is in accord with that of other low-fluoride areas. The mean dmf was 4.5. For the group of children with rampant dental caries, the mean dmf value was much greater (11.3).