Caries extreme groups among adolescents, leaving organised dental care in Göteborg, Sweden.

The aim was--in a longitudinal respect--to study whether 15-year-old children, in caries-free groups, and groups with high frequency of carious lesions, had a stable caries development from 15 to 19 years of age, when they left the organised Public Dental Care. Caries index values were analysed for the period 1986/7-1990/1 for patients born 1971-72 and residing in Göteborg. The groups of caries-free children seemed to be stable in their dental health in about 60-70% according to the prevalence indices used; and about 80% according to the incidence index DS-a. The caries prevalence index mean values of the 15-year-old patient groups with high frequencies of lesions showed between 1.5 to 3.5 percentile units higher mean values when the individuals were 19 years of age. However, the corresponding caries incidence index values were as low as half the size, indicating a possible treatment effect of the caries prevention programme used. Related to the DFS-a index, the 20% groups with the highest caries index values were registered for about 80% of all approximal lesions, of special interest for dental care costs.