THE START OF CARIES DECLINE AND RELATED FLUORIDE USE IN NORWAY

The objective was to determine the start of caries decline and to esti mate the use of fluorides about this time. The material consisted of s ervice reports from the Norwegian municipal School Dental Services (SD S) and the county-based Public Dental Service (PDS), literature report s, private sales and marketing statistics, and a national health surve y. The national data for the permanent dentition demonstrated a distin ct decline in the average number of filled tooth surfaces from around 1970. Counties were grouped as ''early'', less than or equal to 1970, and ''late'', greater than or equal to 1971. The 5 ''early'' counties showed the decline to be evident in 1968. Several local districts repo rted caries reductions since 1963, following the implementation of flu oride programs. Altogether, there was a steady increase in the % of sc hoolchildren taking part in organized brushing or rinsing programs fro m 1960. In 1970, 60% of the schoolchildren regularly took part in the supervised fluoride programs. From September 1971, 0.1% fluoride denti frices became generally available over the counter in retail stores. I n 1972, 32-54% of all toothpaste delivered or sold was fluoridated. Th e distinct time interval between the caries decline and the availabili ty of fluoridated toothpaste rules out the possibility of an interacti on before 1971. The extensive activities with fluoride-based preventiv e programs in the SDS and PDS have probably been the major factors beh ind the decline in the late 60s/early 70s.