BMJ 1994;309:214-215 (23 July)

Editorials

The future of preventive dentistry

The recent sharp fall in the prevalence of the two main dental diseases in industrialised countries calls for a radical revision of preventive dentistry. Dental disease is readily preventable without dentists: the falls have occurred for reasons external to dentistry, with dentists playing only an insignificant part. We need to reconsider what dentists should be doing. I shall use dental caries for illustration, but similar considerations apply to the other main dental disease, periodontal disease.

Dental caries has undergone a striking reduction in most industrialised countries over a relatively short period. In England and Wales in 1973, 65% of 8 year old children had experienced caries; by 1993 this proportion had dropped to 17%. In 15 year olds the mean number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth fell from 5.9 in 1983 to 2.5 in 1993.1 The proportion of 16-24 year olds with 18 or more sound, untreated teeth increased . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Future of preventive dentistry
A S Blinkhorn, P J Holloway, and N H F Wilson
BMJ 1994 309: 1302-1303. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Blinkhorn, A S, Holloway, P J, Wilson, N H F (1994). Future of preventive dentistry. BMJ 309: 1302a-1303 [Full text]  
  • Winter, G B, Walker, A R P, Cleaton-Jones, P E, Mulford, A (1994). Future of preventive dentistry Caries in children ignored. BMJ 309: 672-672 [Full text]  
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