PubMed1991
At the end of the 19th century dental caries had become a serious health problem in many countries, especially among children and young people. Filling their teeth was not common practice among ordinary people. Extraction was usually the only treatment offered. Surveys of schoolchildren's teeth were carried out in many countries in order to establish the extent of the problem, to find out some of the causes, and to stop rotting of teeth. In Norway, the doctor Carl Robert Henie (1850-1919) carried out such a survey in the mid-1890s at Hamar. He examined 660 children (347 boys and 313 girls) aged 7-17 years. Unfortunately he does not say how the examination was carried out, whether he had a good light for his work, or whether or not he used instruments. It is reasonable to assume that he examined the children's teeth in ordinary day-light without using a probe. In this case, many incidents of caries would have been overlooked, leading to no small degree of underreporting. This means that his results cannot be compared out of hand with more recent registrations. Henie, like many others of his contemporaries, maintained that dental caries is a disease of civilization, and emphasized a proper diet containing less refined and processed foods. He recommended coarse bread made from whole-meal flour. He also emphasized the use of fluorine and calcium to prevent caries. His efforts helped to draw the attention of the authorities to a neglected area of health work, and to the establishment of the first school dental clinics in the country a few years later.