Abstract
With the introduction of a new fee schedule under the revised social insurance system in 1992, the term, dental caries-prone persons, came into use, and it was made possible to charge a fee for continuous management in addition to the fees for examination and treatment. It can be said however that the new fee schedule now has come short of meeting the demands of reality. With this in mind, we carried out research into the possibility teeth applied with Ag(NH3)2F in caries-prone children being used as restored clinical crowns. For this purpose, we analyzed the results of regular dental checkups conducted at a rural community in Niigata Prefecture. Our findings were as follows:
1. The ratio of Ag(NH3)2F to untreated teeth was from 34.0% to 43.4% in children 3 to 7-year-olds.
2. The largest number of teeth applied with Ag(NH3)2F was made up of maxillary canines, which were followed by maxillary lateral incisors and maxillary central incisors. By age, maxillary central incisors and lateral incisors accounted for the highest in 6-year-olds, and maxillary canines in 7-yearolds.
3. In the deciduous dentition, the ratio of untreated teeth to treated teeth was high. The number of incipient caries rate for teeth applied with Ag(NH3)2F was lower than that for untreated teeth in the anterior area.
Based on the above, we found that teeth applied with Ag(NH3)2F could be regarded as being no dif ferent than treated teeth, because the application of teeth applied with Ag(NH3)2F was more effective than crown restoration in arresting the progress of dental caries. It would therefore, be more realistic to think that in the deciduous dentition of children of 7 years or younger, maxillary as well as mandibular central incisors and canines teeth applied with Ag(NH3)2F should be included in the category of those teeth given crown restorations. It would also meet the needs of the times to exclude the criteria used in deciding the incidence of caries by the number of permanent teeth provided crown restora tions in children 5-7 years old.
