December 2006

Objective: To determine the prevalence of dental caries in 12-year-old children in all 16 German Federal States in 2004 as part of a longitudinal observation project. Design: A cross-sectional oral health survey of children 12 years of age was performed in 2004. Subjects: After random selection 43,950 children were examined in schools. Method: DMFT and fissure sealants were recorded following WHO criteria. Caries was diagnosed at the caries into dentine threshold (D3) using the visual method without radiography or fibre-optic transillumination. Results: The proportion of children with caries experience was 39.3% throughout Germany. The mean DMFT score was 0.98 and the average Significant Caries Index (SiC) was 2.72. Compared to the results obtained in 2000, caries prevalence and caries experience decreased in this age group. As in 2000, all these specific results showed a wide variation among the different federal states, i.e., mean regional DMFT values between 0.71 and 1.42 were found and the mean number of fissure sealed teeth ranged between 1.9 and 3.4. Conclusion: The decrease in caries prevalence observed between 1994 and 2000 continued between 2000 and 2004, although once again considerable inequalities in oral health between the various federal states were observed. Key words: caries prevalence, dental caries, national surveys, oral epidemiology, oral health, Significant Caries Index