Dental caries in rural and urban black preschoolchildren.

The dentitions of 439 rural and 192 urban black children aged 1-5 years were examined with mirror and probe. Dental caries was common and the percentage prevalence and dmft values were similar in children of 1-3 years in both groups. At 4 years of age there was a twofold increase in dental caries in the urban children to reach a dmft score significantly greater than that in the rural children (P less than 0.01). Labial caries was common in rural children but rare in urban children while rampant caries (dmft greater than or equal to 5) exhibited the opposite pattern.