Abstract
Oral examination and the caries activity test by Cariostat was performed on 1 1/2 year old infants in 9 different areas during a period of 2 years, to study how the prophylactic treatment of the dental caries of 1 1/2 year old infants should be carried out.
In this paper, the change of the percentage of subjects who have dental caries and the possibillity of the prediction of the prediction of caries initiation according to caries activity was investigated.
The results were as follows:
(1) The rate of the subjects who had dental caries increased according to age and the difference of the maximum and minimum of that rate among the 9 areas was smallest at 1 1/2 years of age but it was largest at 3 years of age.
(2) The mean deft and defs values increased according to age but the change of the mean value of the caries activity by the results of Cariostat almost stopped after 2 1/2 years of age followed by a rise from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years of age.
(3) A significant correlation was obtained between the caries activity by the results of Cariostat and the deft and defs values respectively.
(4) The use of Cariostat as a caries activity test to predict the caries initiation or progression in the near future may be valuable.
(5) Although the caries activity was low at 1 1/2 years of age, the mean deft values more increased according to the higher level of the caries activity after 1 year.
