An epidemiologic survey of dental caries was undertaken in the town of Paulínia. S. Paulo state, south-eastern Brazil, in 1994, for the purpose of comparing the present prevalence with that registered during the previous study of 1980. The children examined numbered 1,416, were of both sexes and aged 7-14. Ten dentists, preciously trained, used DMF.T and DMF.S dental caries indexes. A level of prevalence of dental caries 67.8% below that of 1980 was found. Further, there had been an inversion of DMF.T index components. Whereas in 1980 the component caries was higher (69.5%), while the filing component prevailed (79.0%) in 1994. The missing tooth component has disappeared altogether in this recent survey.30280-4