[Caries in deciduous teeth in children living in large cities].

1,502 preschool children in Hamburg between the ages of three and six were given a dental examination. Half of the children attended Protestant kindergartens; the other half were enrolled in city day care centers. In general, the caries rate was extremely high. The day-care-center children had more caries than the kindergarten children. A distinctly positive correlation existed between social level and the number and/or frequency of caries. The relation of treated to untreated carious defects in the deciduous teeth was also expressly unfavorable. The dissemination of prophylactic measures is depressingly low. The effectivity of pediatric dental care in its present form must be called into question.