Dental health of children in Australia 1977-1980.

A School Dental Scheme was commenced in Australia on July 1, 1973 in which the Commonwealth and States shared the costs of the development and operation of the school dental service. Data collected at annual examinations over the years 1977-1980 inclusive were used, from which trends, if any, could be determined on the changes that may have occurred in the dental health of the school children. From the data covering almost two million examinations, a fall in the DIMF index for children aged six to thirteen years was noted. In 1977, it was 2.97 and it reached 2.17 in 1980. Comparison with other data obtained over a longer period in the Australian Capital Territory form a useful comparison. From 1954 to 1980, the mean DIMF for twelve-year-old children was reduced from 7.17 to 2.52. The effect of fluoridation has played a major part but not the whole role in this improvement in dental health; it was introduced in Canberra in 1964 when the mean DIMF index for ten-year-old children was 4.43, and this figure was reduced to 2.16 in 1974. In 1980, the mean DIMF index was 1.56, or a fall of 27.8 per cent. A similar effect is evident in data collected from the State surveys. Included in the surveys was the development of indices for Oral Hygiene and it was found that despite a better oral hygiene index for girls it was not associated with lower caries prevalence. However, taking into account the scores for all children of twelve years of age, a clear association existed between oral debris and prevalence of carious teeth.