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49
these teeth. So great is the variation that it is not unusual with
seven-year children to examine one with two molars so carious
as to be beyond any means of conservative treatment, whilst the
next may only have the points of one or two of these teeth just
appearing through the gums.
The experience of most authorities who have established
dental clinics points to the ages 6-8 years as the most suitable
period for examination and treatment.
3. Each child found defective and in whom the defect has
been remedied should be periodically supervised, and further treatment
given if required in order to obviate the possibility of the
disease becoming at any time extensive in character. The
reinspection should take place at intervals of not less than a year.
Although in time all children over 6 years of age would have to
be treated, the amount of dental disease becomes appreciably less
in after years if treatment has been carried out and continued in
children over 6 years of age. For instance, the following figures
represent the experience obtained in Cambridge. After filling
every permanent tooth which shows the earliest trace of caries
for children aged 6 years, the average number of carious teeth
per child a year later is 1.5; 83 per cent. of the children develop
fresh caries in their permanent teeth between the ages of 6 and
7 years, and 74 per cent. between 7 and 8 years. This great
increase appears only in the period of the eruption of the first
permanent molars, with a sufficient margin to allow all the four
teeth to reach their final position in the jaw, one in contact with
the other. Immediately afterwards the percentage of children
with fresh caries drops to 45 per cent. for the year, and one would
not expect any percentage above 40 in after years, except perhaps
from 11 to 13, about which time the second molars appear.

so that this figure represents the school population to be dealt with.