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Understanding the regional and countrywide urban-rural distribution of dental caries in Swaziland was considered important for the formulation of a National Oral Health Policy based on the Primary Health Care Approach. A National Oral Health survey was undertaken in Swaziland at the request of the ministry of health. Part of the objective of this study was to establish the regional urban-rural distribution of dental caries in Swaziland. For the 6-18 year olds a cluster sampling technique by schools was used to get a representative sample. For the 35-44 year age group a simple random sampling technique was used in areas of employment influenced by regional and urban-rural distribution. All examinations were carried out using the WHO 1987 criteria. More than 90 per cent of the mean dmft of 6 and 12 year olds was comprised of the decayed component of the dmft/DMFT. The level of restorative care (ft/dmft, FT/DMFT) was low for all age groups. For the 6 and 12 year olds in the Lubombo region there was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the urban-rural caries experience. When regional data for 6 and 12 year olds were pooled, the difference in urban-rural caries experience is also significant (p < 0.05). For the older age groups there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the regional urban-rural caries experience. This study indicates that the oral health care system in Swaziland with its limited resources, should focus its attention on the younger age groups especially in urban areas as far as dental caries treatment needs and preventive programmes are concerned.

This investigation was conducted to determine the prevalence of dental caries and degree of dental fluorosis in 12-year-old Swazi school children. The prevalence of dental caries was low (33.7 per cent of children experienced caries and the mean DMFT was 0.92) and corresponded with that found in a neighbouring Swazi community (KaNgwane) but differed strikingly from the results of the baseline study by Klausen and Fanoe (1983). The need for curative dental care was mainly for one surface restorations. A need for selective school preventive programmes was identified.

A collaboration in oral health services research between the Kingdom of Swaziland and the Republic of South Africa is reported. The aim and methodology of the project is described and a summary of the results of the descriptive study is given. The latter included the status of dental caries, periodontal disease and malocclusion of 12 year old school children, an evaluation of a community preventive programme, an assessment of the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of school teachers towards oral health and an analysis of the output of public oral health services. Five major strategies were recommended for the further development of oral health services in Swaziland and it is recommended that these be undertaken within the contextual realities of Southern Africa.