Analysis of prevalence and trends of dental caries in the Americas betweenthe 1970s and 1990s

Data on the prevalence and severity of dental caries collected by country m embers of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) were summarised to an alyse current status and trends since the 1970s. The mean number of decayed , missing, and filled teeth (DMF-T) among 12-year-old children and the rela tive contribution of each DMF-T component were collected from official repo rts and publications in the scientific literature. Overall, a secular trend toward lower caries prevalence was observed in most countries, more notabl y among those with large prevention programmes using fluorides. Many countr ies have reached the World Health Organization (WHO) year 2000 goal of a me an DMF-T of less than or equal to 3 but others are still far from reaching that goal. Few countries have reached the status of having large proportion s of disease prevalence localised in a small percentage of the population, a pattern observed as prevalence decreases. Since 1994, PAHO's Regional Ora l Health Program has developed two strategies to address these issues: the introduction and reinforcement of national preventive programmes using fluo rides and the introduction of the atraumatic restorative treatment (ART).