Av alla skolbarn i världen har 90 % någon gång haft karies. World Health Organisation har upprättat mål för att minska karies. År 2000 skulle 12- åringarna inte överstiga DMFT 3 och år 2020 ska 80 % av världens alla 6-åringar vara kariesfria. Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva kariesförekomsten hos barn i åldern 3-19 år med invandrarbakgrund i Sverige, Norge, Finland och Danmark. Metoden som användes var en allmän litteraturstudie. Data söktes i PubMed med sökorden ”children”, ”immigrant”, ”immigrants”, ”caries”. Artiklar före år 2000 exkluderades. Nio vetenskapliga artiklar fanns. Inga av de som påträffades var från Finland. Kariesförekomst presenteras i dmfs/DMFS, dmft/DMFT, dfs/DFS och i procent. Resultatet visade högt kariesindex i de tre länderna Sverige, Norge och Danmark. Slutsatsen tyder på att barn och ungdomar med invandrarbakgrund har hög kariesförekomst i dessa länderna. 

Of all the children in the world 90% have had tooth decay. World Health Organisation has established goals to reduce the caries prevalence. In the year of 2000, the goal was that 12 - year-olds should not exceed DMFT 3 and 2020, 80% of all the world's children at aged 6 should be caries-free. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence in children aged 3-19 years, with an immigrant background in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The method that was used was a literature review. Data were searched in PubMed using the keywords "children", "immigrant", "immigrants", "caries". Papers before the year 2000 were excluded. Nine scientific papers were found. Non of these were found from Finland. The caries prevalence was presented in dmfs/DMFS, dmft/DMFT, dfs/DFS and in percentage. The result showed a high caries index in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The conclusion suggests that children and adolescents with immigrant backgrounds have a high caries prevalence in these countries.