A prospective study of a caries prevention program in pregnant women and their children five and six years of age

A preventive dental program (PDP) instituted in pregnant women and comprisi ng an educational and a preventive part was evaluated when their children w ere five and six years of age. Dental caries was examined in sixty-seven mo ther-child pairs belonging to the program and in sixty-nine control mother- child pairs. In the five-year-old children 87 percent of the PDP group were caries free compared with the 50 percent in the control group. Comparable figures for six-year-old children were 89 percent and 62 percent in the PDP and control group, respectively. The mean dft of the PDP children five and six years of age was 0.4 and 0.2, respectively, versus 1.3 and 1.4 for the control children. The differences in caries-free status and caries prevale nce were statistically significant. In conclusion, the preventive dental pr ogram which started in pregnant women and continued in the mothers and thei r children were highly effective for a long-term reduction of dental caries .