Project Swaziland (Part 2): dental caries experience of 12 year old school children.

This investigation was conducted to determine the prevalence of dental caries and degree of dental fluorosis in 12-year-old Swazi school children. The prevalence of dental caries was low (33.7 per cent of children experienced caries and the mean DMFT was 0.92) and corresponded with that found in a neighbouring Swazi community (KaNgwane) but differed strikingly from the results of the baseline study by Klausen and Fanoe (1983). The need for curative dental care was mainly for one surface restorations. A need for selective school preventive programmes was identified.