[Constant fluoridation of drinking water and the incidence of dental caries in children and juveniles (author's transl)].

The regular examination of 20,000 children and juveniles aged 6 to 15 (permanent teeth) and some 12.500 three- to eight-year-olds (deciduous teeth) has shown that the incidence of dental caries (DMF/T and df/t indices) is directly dependent upon the constant fluoridation of drinking water (1.0 +/- 0.1 ppm F). The reduction in dental caries observed on both deciduous and permanent teeth as a result of twelve years of fluoridation of drinking water, which was started in Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1959, was followed, because of the necessity to temporarily discontinue the addition of fluorine salts to the drinking water, by a slight increase in caries which could be checked through refluorination. After eighteen years of fluoridation of drinking water, the situation can again be considered to be in equilibrium. The need for proper fluoridation and regular control thereof through analyzing the fluorine content of drinking water is pointed out.