After the development of evidence-based, caries-preventive measures and their implementation, the caries decline varies considerably among different countries, which shifts the focus to the importance of regulations and national health policies. Thus, this study assessed the 45-year longitudinal caries development in seven Western and Eastern European countries for 5-7- and 12-year-olds and the according national health policies, regulations and general economic data. Denmark and Switzerland showed an early and marked caries decline after implementing national or regional regulations (1970s) on caries prevention (~1 DMFT, 12y, 1990), while Germany exhibited a similar pattern after adopting equivalent regulations in 1989 (1.2 DMFT, 2010) resulting in 2 DMFT, 2020). For the primary dentition (5-7-year-olds) the epidemiological basis varies to a greater extent and only Denmark implemented an early national epidemiological and preventive strategy from the first tooth on resulting in <1 dmft in 6-year-olds after 2005, while the other countries had at least twice as high values. In conclusion, the difference in caries decline reflect general economic development and the national regulations on oral prevention, indicating the importance for stakeholders to implement evidence-based caries prevention and its monitoring in the respective national health care system.
Splieth et al. (Thu,) studied this question.