DENTAL-CARIES AND SOCIAL-FACTORS IN 12-YEAR-OLD SOUTH-AFRICAN CHILDREN

Dental caries prevalence (percentage caries-free) and experience (DMFS ) were recorded, in 414 12-yr-old Indian and 401 white children living in adjacent urban communities with the same fluoride concentration in the drinking water (0.21-0.33 ppm) using WHO (11) criteria. Details o f social factors: education level, family income, home space and occup ants and parental occupation were obtained by questionnaire. Dental ca ries was significantly worse in the Indian children with regard to num bers caries-free (30% - white and 40% - Indian) and DMFS mean (sd) (3. 65 (3.98) and 2.66 (3.49) working group, respectively). Social class, white or blue collar, family income and room to person ratio were sign ificantly associated with dental caries in the white children but ther e were no significant associations in the Indian children. Multiple re gression analysis showed race and sex to be significant factors.