Relationship of caries with socioeconomic status in 14-year-old children from communities with different fluoride histories.

The aim of this study was to describe the caries prevalence of 14-yr-old children living in two fluoridated communities, a non-fluoridated community, and a community that discontinued fluoridation 5 yr before the children were examined and to relate the caries prevalence to socio-economic status. Clinical examinations were completed on 413 children of whom 227 had been continuously resident in their towns. Children living in the fluoridated communities had significantly lower mean DMFT and DMFS scores than those in the non-fluoridated town. The children from the town that had discontinued fluoridation 5 yr earlier had mean DMFT and DMFS scores that occupied an intermediate position. The differences were greater when only the continuous residents were examined. There were significant differences in the mean DMFT and DMFS when comparing socioeconomic status and fluoridation of the water supply. No interaction effect was demonstrated between these two factors.