Caries prevalence in Belgium and The Netherlands.

A list of epidemiological caries studies performed since 1980 in Belgium and The Netherlands was compiled by a literature search and analysed with respect to study design, methods of clinical investigation and the availability of dmft (DMFT) data. The percentages of caries-free 6-year-old children in The Netherlands and Belgium are currently similar. In The Netherlands the data suggest a halt in the decline of caries prevalence since the mid 1990s among 6-year-olds. According to WHO criteria, 12-year-old children in The Netherlands now have a very low caries experience. Children in Belgium belong to the moderate caries experience category. Recent data from the two countries indicate a further decrease in caries prevalence of 12-year-olds during the last decade. Caries prevalence data of adults in Belgium are not available. In The Netherlands the average DMFT-score in the older age groups has hardly changed since 1970. Changes in percentages of edentates in the period 1980-1990 probably reflect part of the changes in oral health status of Dutch adults. The intervention of many methodological problems and confounding factors, such as cultural differences, limit national and international comparisons of caries prevalence data sets.