CORONAL CARIES IN THE PRIMARY AND PERMANENT DENTITION OF CHILDREN ANDADOLESCENTS 1-17 YEARS OF AGE - UNITED-STATES, 1988-1991

The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey-Phase 1, co nducted from 1988 to 1991 in the United States, included an assessment of dental caries in US children and adolescents and provided the oppo rtunity for differences in dental caries status to be viewed by age, s ex, race, and race-ethnicity. The measurement of dental caries in chil dren and adolescents from 2 to 17 years of age included the number of decayed, missing, and filled permanent tooth surfaces and teeth, and t he number of decayed and filled primary tooth surfaces and teeth. Addi tionally, a brief visual inspection for the presence or absence of ear ly childhood caries in the maxillary incisors was conducted for childr en 12 to 23 months of age. The survey yielded weighted estimates for 1 988-1991 for over 58 million US children and adolescents 1 to 17 years of age. For infants aged 12 to 23 months, 0.8% were scored positive f or early childhood caries. Over 60% (62.1%) of the children aged 2 to 9 years were caries-free in their primary dentition. Over half (54.7%) of the children 5 to 17 years were caries-free in their permanent den tition. The occurrence of caries in the permanent dentition is cluster ed: A quarter of the children and adolescents ages 5 to 17 with at lea st one permanent tooth accounted for about 80% of the caries experienc ed in permanent teeth. Differences in caries experience were found amo ng race and race-ethnicity subpopulations, and caries patterns for the primary and permanent dentition were dissimilar. Further analyses are needed to explore other potential determinants of caries in children.