One in four 18-years-old Norwegians never had cavities

TeethTeeth

One quarter of 18-years-old Norwegians never suffered from cavities

By 2016 about 24 percent of the country’s 18-years-old’s grew up without ever having been visited by “Karius and Baktus”.

 

By comparison, almost every 18-years-old had one or more cavities in their teeth in 1985,  according to figures from Statistics Norway (SSB).

In the last twenty years, dental health among children and adolescents has generally improved. There is now a larger proportion without any cavities in the teeth, fewer with multiple cavities, and the total number of cavities in the teeth has decreased.

Positive trend

While the percentage that has not had no cavities at all increases, the percentage of those with multiple cavities is on the decline.

Figures from 2016 show that there were about 9 percent of the 18-years-olds who had more than nine cavities in their teeth. This is a reduction of more than 42 percent from 2005.

 The figures show that the reduction of cavities among young people from Finnmark’s is 15 percent. Hedmark is at the forefront of dental health among the 18-years-olds with one third of the populace with no cavities at all.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today