A 5-year longitudinal study of caries development in first permanent molars in children.

The present study analysed the development of caries in 653 first permanent molars annually over a period of 5 years in children who were 7 years-old at baseline. The cumulative caries experience increased from 6.0% at baseline to 35.2% at the end of the study period. There were no appreciable differences in the annual incremental rate of caries experience among males and females. At baseline, the Malays and Indians have the highest and lowest caries experience respectively. At 12 years of age, the Chinese have the highest caries experience whilst the data for the Malays and Indians were comparable. The highest cumulative percentage increase in caries experience for the Malays, Chinese and Indians were between the ages of 7 to 8, 9 to 10 and 8 to 9 respectively while the average annual caries increment were 4.5%, 7.3% and 5.0% respectively.