Oral Health in Children

Abstract

Many articles on oral health in children have appeared in dental journals with relatively few in the more commonly read pediatric literature.

By various surveys it has been shown that 92 per cent of the population requires dental care. It has also been shown that 50 to 60 per cent of children under five years of age require active dental care. The problem is so great that the dental profession alone cannot be expected to take care of this great load. Because of this the medical profession must become interested in the problem. To do so, they must know the accepted theories of caries initiation as well as the principles of oral health and have a realization of what good dental repair should comprise.

This paper reviews the present accepted methods of the control and prevention of dental caries as well as evaluates the value of dentifrices.