Declining dental caries in Jerusalem schoolchildren

There has been an increase of dental caries in Israel during the last decade (1970-80), while most developed industrialized countries reported a decline in dental caries since 1970. A survey carried out on 267 first graders (6 yr old) by the same investigator and with the same methods as in the previous survey (1977), showed a significant decrease in prevalence of dental caries in 1985 as follows: 78% affected children with a caries score of 4.9 compared to 86.2% with a caries score of 5.2 in 1977.