Dental caries prevalence in the Baffin Island Eskimo.

A survey of 766 Eskimo children in Baffin Zone of the Northwest Territories showed high levels of dental caries comparable to those found elsewhere in the Arctic. Lowest caries rates were in Pond Inlet, one of the most isolated settlements. The fluoridation of water supplies in Frobisher Bay appeared to be effecting a reduction in dental caries in the permanent teeth but not in the deciduous teeth. Introduction Baffin Island is the third largest island in the world, yet it contains a sparse Eskimo population of some 6000 people living in 12 small settlements. These settlements are scattered across Baffin Island and several lesser islands in an area administratively known as Baffin Zone. Dental care is provided for this area by the Canadian Government through a system of traveling dentists based in the main settlement of Frobisher Bay. Unlike most other areas of the Arctic, the original nomadic culture of the Baffin Eskimo persisted until the building of airfields on Baffin Island during the 1939-1945 war. This influx of military and, subsequently, administrative personnel introduced the European-North American culture to the Baffin Eskimo. As opposed to Greenland and Alaska where changes in life-styles and diet commenced at the turn of the present century, 1’ 2 the changes in Baffin Zone have been recent and very rapid. Studies on the prevalence of dental caries in Greenland have been extensive and are well documented. 3-~ Correspondingly, in Alaska there have been several studies concerned with dental caries and dietary changes. 2’s-1° For the Canadian Eskimo, however, there are very little data documenting the prevalence of dental decay. There are two studies on the high level of dental caries in the Keewatin Eskimo~’ ~3 and one report on the Labrador Eskimo by Waugh.TM For the Eskimo of Accepted: March 1979 the Arctic coastline, the McKenzie River Delta, and the area of Baffin Zone, there is only the limited study of Mayhal] ~ in the settlement of Igloolik. Material and methods Because of the vast area of land concerned and the scattered nature of the population, it was not possible to examine all of the Eskimo children within a short period of time. Dental examinations were carried out as each settlement was visited over the period of one year as part of a program to provide dental health care to the area. Examined during the year 1971 were 777 children living in 11 settlements. The distribution of these settlements within Baffin Zone is shown in Fig. 1. Dental examinations were carried out using identical methods of caries diagnosis and recording as in a previous study. 12 Caries were diagnosed as such when an explorer penetrated into softened dentin; catches or surface defects were not considered as carious lesions. Equipment used included a portable dental light, and compressed air was available. Frobisher Bay contained the largest percentage of the total study population and also had fluoridated water. There was some debate as to how effective the fluoridation had been, and accordingly, over a three month period, the water fluoride ion concentration was monitored using a colorimetric method. Although social contacts of the Eskimo with whalers and explorers have occurred for over 100 years, intermarriage with Caucasians had increased considerably within the last 20 years. A notation was made as to the racial background of each child included in the study. This was assessed from information provided from Eskimo dental assistants as described previously. TM Thus, children with one Eskimo and one Caucasian parent were given the notation "2/4," which means that two of the four grandparents were Eskimo. This was not a perfect system, bearing in mind the random contacts with whalers and explorers over the PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY Voh 1, No. 3 169