Prevalence of root caries in the adult Finnish population

Abstract

A sample of 8000 persons was drawn to represent the Finnish population aged 30 yr and over. The participation rate was 89.9%. Root caries was recorded when the lesion was obviously soft and > 1/2 of it was located on cementum. Lesions adjacent to fillings were not included. The reproducibility and the standard of the clinical recordings were tested by reexamining 20% of the studied population 2-6 mo. after the 1st clinical examination. The overall prevalence of root caries was 21.6% for men and 14.5% for women. The prevalence increased for both sexes almost consistently with age. Root caries was found 1.6 times more often among men than women. Among men, 2.23%, and among women 1.19% of teeth were affected by root caries.