The 1993 national survey of children's dental health.

The 1993 national survey report shows encouraging evidence of general improvements in children's dental health compared with earlier surveys in 1973 and 1983. There have been dramatic declines in dental caries at all ages and this is evident in the different parts of the United Kingdom and in all social classes. However, among 5-year-old children average caries levels have remained unchanged since 1983, although a higher proportion now have no known decay experience. The amount of decay treated by restoration as a proportion of total caries experience has fallen in all age groups and the disease appears to be becoming concentrated at higher levels in a diminishing number of children who are not obtaining dental care. A disturbing finding was the high prevalence of dental erosion, particularly in the primary dentition. Other findings included more than half of children in Scotland and Northern Ireland having fissure sealants, improved parental knowledge about preventing dental disease, reduced numbers of orthodontic extractions and a reduction of one-third in the rate of traumatised permanent incisors. Children must be regarded as the number one priority for dental services in order to safeguard the dental health of rising generations, and renewed efforts must be made to further reduce their disease levels through population based preventive measures.