An international look at school-based children's dental services.

School-based dental clinics, when well-managed, can bring good quality care to children where they normally congregate, thus avoiding many of the problems found where children must be taken to private offices out of school hours. Both capital and running expenses for primary care can be substantially reduced. Utilization figures for school-based dental services now reach 98 per cent of eligible children in New Zealand, where dental nurses do simple operative dentistry including cavity preparation and fillings. Australia, where a modified New Zealand plan has been expanding for about 12 years, is moving rapidly to attain similar utilization. In Sweden, 95 per cent of the school-age population is reported to receive school-managed dental service through a government program. In the United States, however, it is commonly reported that less than one-half the school-age population receives good periodic dental care.