Paediatric dentistry as a specialty in Sweden. Responsibilities, changes during the past decade and future perspectives.

The results from a questionnaire to all specialist clinics (n = 38) in Sweden concerning their activities during 1989 show that 1% of all Swedish children between 0 and 19 years of age were treated at specialist clinics in pedodontics. The decrease in caries prevalence during the last decade has not resulted in a decrease in the number of referrals. The major reason for referral was high caries activity in combination with behaviour management problems. Seventy per cent of the specialists' working-hours are spent in clinical treatment and about 11% in educational activities. In the future the need for specialist treatment will continue to change to other areas than those of today, such as medically compromised and socially handicapped children.