[Caries prevalence among 5-year-olds in the city of Winterthur in the year 2001].

The aim of the present study was to assess the caries prevalence of 5-year-olds in the city of Winterthur in 2001. By simple random sampling 350 children were selected. Two-hundred-and-ninety-one of the children (83%) participated. The mean dmft-value was 2.42; of that 1.87 were untreated carious teeth (dt). Forty-five per cent of the children showed caries in the deciduous dentition. Twenty-one per cent of the children had high caries experience (5 or more dmft). Twenty-one per cent showed caries in deciduous incisors. In 4% of the children primary molars were missing. Splitting by nationality revealed great differences. On average, the Swiss children had 1.70 dmf-teeth; the ex-Yugoslavian and Albanian children had 7.84 dmf-teeth. Fifteen percent of the Swiss children had high caries experience; in contrast 65% of the ex-Yugoslavian and Albanian children had high caries experience.