Preventing dental caries.

: Since most children do not see a dentist until age three, family physicians have the opportunity to initiate proper dental care and thus reduce the incidence of dental caries. In addition to oral hygiene and dietary modification, optimal fluoride ingestion in the first few years of life produces lifelong resistance to dental caries. Knowledge of the pathology of dental caries and use of appropriate fluoride dosages enables the family physician to apply a highly effective preventive regimen in daily practice.