[Dental caries prevalence in youth from the Hague. Have the differences in dental health between social groups closed?].

In 1998 a dental survey amongst 6- and 12-year-old schoolchildren in the Hague was carried out. The 1998-survey showed differences in caries experience between SES groups that had increased in the period 1989-1998. The decline in caries experience among 6-year-old children of low SES groups had come to an end after 1983, whereas among 12-year-old children the decrease in mean DMFS values had stopped in the early nineties. However, the survey showed that during 1989-1998, the percentages of caries-free children in medium and high SES groups continued to rise. Of the medium SES 6- and 12-year-old children, In 1998, the percentage of caries-free 6- and 12-year-old children in medium SES group were 79 and 87, respectively. The comparable results in the high SES group were 87 (6-yr-olds) and 93 (12-yr-olds).