South Australian kindergarten children: effects of fluoride tablets and fluoridated water on dental caries in primary teeth.

Dental examinations of approximately 5,000 kindergarten children each year over a seven-year period provided the data for a comparative study of the effects of fluoride tablets and fluoridated water on primary teeth. The lifetime use of fluoridated water resulted in caries-free teeth in 80 per cent of children aged 3-4 years, 67 per cent of those aged 4-5 years, and 55 per cent of those aged 5-6 years. After a lifetime use of daily fluoride tablets the percentages were 87, 74, and 72, respectively. When neither fluoridated water nor tablets were available, the percentages were 69, 49, and 41, respectively. Water fluoridation is the most efficient public health measure because only seventeen per cent of the children taking tablets received them daily throughout life.