The aim of the study was to describe dental health status among middle-aged and elderly women over a 24-year period. Because of the design of the study it was possible to make both longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons. The study started in 1968-69 with a combined medical and dental examination of women aged between 38 and 60 years. New dental examinations of these same women were performed in 1980-81 and again in 1992-93, and included new cohorts of 38-year-old women on both occasions. In the cross-sectional perspective, it was shown that the number of edentate individuals decreased significantly during the 24-year period. Among dentate women, the number of remaining teeth and restored teeth increased significantly cross-sectionally. However, the youngest age group, women of 38 years, showed a lower number of restored teeth in the latest study (in 1992-93). There was also a lower number of crowns, root-fillings, and pontics in the latest study for the youngest age group. The two older age groups studied cross-sectionally showed similar numbers in all studies. In the longitudinal study, there was a decrease with time in incidence of edentulism. Among the dentate women in the longitudinal study the number of restored teeth related to those remaining was high (range 76-90%) and did not change much between the studies in the different age groups. There was a clear tendency during the 24-year period in all age groups for more teeth to be restored with crowns rather than different fillings. In conclusion, this population study, with a follow-up of 24 years, shows that dental status improved in that fewer individuals lost all their teeth and younger age groups have more remaining teeth and fewer restorations than previously.