The eff ect of dental caries on the overall quality of
health and wellbeing has not been well studied. This
disease and its sequelae can cause signifi cant pain and
are expensive to treat. The burden of dental caries lasts a
lifetime because once the tooth structure is destroyed it
will usually need restoration and additional maintenance
throughout life. In developing countries, where the
prevalence of dental caries is low and the disease clusters
on occlusal surfaces of a few teeth, the costs of treatment
are higher than can be met by the funds available for essential public health programmes