Trends in dental health of 35‐ to 44‐year‐olds in W est and E ast G ermany after reunification

Objectives The G erman reunification (1990) resulted in huge social upheavals in E ast G ermany involving changes in health‐care systems. We aimed to assess the changes of dental health between 1989 and 2005, hypothesizing that dental health converged in W est and E ast G ermany. Methods We evaluated data from 855 E ast and 1,456 W est G ermans aged 35‐44 years from the cross‐sectional G erman O ral H ealth S tudies ( D eutsche M undgesundheitsstudien ) conducted in 1989/92, 1997, and 2005. Regression models were applied to assess associations between region, survey year, their interactions and variables assessing dental disease status [number of decayed ( DT ), missing ( MT ), and filled teeth ( FT ), the DMFT ‐index, the probability of having ≤20 teeth and the number of sound teeth ( ST )], adjusting for potential risk factors for caries. Results After a slight increase of MT between 1989/92 and 1997 ( W est: 3.6 to 3.6; E ast: 4.5 to 4.9), numbers of MT considerably decreased between 1997 and 2005 ( W est: 3.6 to 2.2; E ast: 4.9 to 3.1). E ast G ermans had consistently more MT . Numbers of FT , DT , ST , and the DMFT ‐index equalized at the latest in 2005. The E ast G erman DMFT ‐index increased between 1989/92 and 1997 and slightly decreased between 1997 and 2005, whereas the W est G erman DMFT ‐index steadily decreased between 1989/92 and 2005. Conclusions Dental health converged in W est and E ast G ermany, but the higher number of MT in 2005 indicates that E ast G ermany was not able to catch up completely with W est G ermany.