Pit and fissure sealants in dental public health – application criteria and general policy in Finland

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pit and fissure sealants (sealants) are widely used as a non-operative preventive method in public dental health in Finland. Most children under 19 years of age attend the community-organized dental health services free of charge. The aims of this study were to find out to what extent sealants were applied, what the attitudes of dental professionals towards sealant application were, and whether any existing sealant policies could be detected among the health centres or among the respondents in general. The study evaluated changes that had taken place in the policies used during a ten year period (1991–2001).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A questionnaire was mailed to each chief dental officer (CDO) of the 265 public dental health centres in Finland, and to a group of general dentists (GDP) applying sealants in these health centres, giving a total of 434 questionnaires with 22 questions. The response rate was 80% (N = 342).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A majority of the respondents reported to application of sealants on a systematic basis for children with increased caries risk. The criteria for applying sealants and the actual strategies seemed to vary locally between the dentists within the health centres and between the health centres nationwide. The majority of respondents believed sealants had short- and long-term effects. The overall use of sealants decreased towards the end of the ten year period. The health centres (N = 28) choosing criteria to seal over detected or suspected enamel caries lesion had a DMFT value of 1.0 (SD ± 0.49) at age 12 (year 2000) compared to a value of 1.2 (SD ± 0.47) for those health centres (N = 177) applying sealants by alternative criteria (t-test, p < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There seems to be a need for defined guidelines for sealant application criteria and policy both locally and nationwide. Occlusal caries management may be improved by shifting the sealant policy from the traditional approach of prevention to interception, i.e. applying the sealants over detected or suspected enamel caries lesions instead of sealing sound teeth.</p

Study of 3-prong Hadronic τ\tau Decays with Charged Kaons

Using a sample of 4.7/fb integrated luminosity accumulated with the CLEO-II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), we have measured the branching fractions of the tau lepton into $K^- h^+ \pi^- \nu_\tau$ and $K^- K^+ \pi^- \nu_\tau$ relative to $h^- h^+ h^- \nu_\tau; K^- h^+ \pi^- \pi^0\nu_\tau$ and $K^- K^+ \pi^- \pi^0\nu_\tau$ relative to $h^- h^+ h^- \pi^0 \nu_\tau$. The relative branching fractions are: (5.16+-0.20+-0.50)*$10^{-2}$, (1.52+-0.14+-0.29)*$10^{-2}$, (2.54+-0.44+-0.39)*$10^{-2}$ and $<0.0154$ at 95% C.L., respectively. Coupled with additional experimental information, we use our results to extract information on the structure of three-prong tau decays to charged kaons.Comment: 16 pages postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Managing carious lesions:consensus recommendations on terminology

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Dental service patterns among private and public adult patients in Australia

Background While the majority of dental care in Australia is provided in the private sector those patients who attend for public care remain a public health focus due to their socioeconomic disadvantage. The aims of this study were to compare dental service profiles provided to patients at private and public clinics, controlling for age, sex, reason for visit and income. Methods Data were collected in 2004–06, using a three-stage, stratified clustered sample of Australians aged 15+ years, involving a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI), oral examination and mailed questionnaire. Analysis was restricted to those who responded to the CATI. Results A total of 14,123 adults responded to the CATI (49% response) of whom 5,505 (44% of those interviewed) agreed to undergo an oral epidemiological examination. Multivariate analysis controlling for age, sex, reason for visit and income showed that persons attending public clinics had higher odds [Odds ratio, 95%CI] of extraction (1.69, 1.26–2.28), but lower odds of receiving oral prophylaxis (0.50, 0.38–0.66) and crown/bridge services (0.34, 0.13–0.91) compared to the reference category of private clinics. Conclusion Socio-economically disadvantaged persons who face barriers to accessing dental care in the private sector suffer further oral health disadvantage from a pattern of services received at public clinics that has more emphasis on extraction of teeth and less emphasis on preventive and maintenance care.David S Brennan, Liana Luzzi and Kaye F Roberts-Thomso

Half‐Cauchy and Power Cauchy Distributions: Ordinary Differential Equations

In this chapter, homogenous ordinary differential equations (ODES) of different orders were obtained for the probability density function, quantile function, survival function inverse survival function, hazard function and reversed hazard functions of half‐Cauchy and power Cauchy distributions. This is possible since the aforementioned probability functions are differentiable. Differentiation and modified product rule were used to obtain the required ordinary differential equations, whose solutions are the respective probability functions. The different conditions necessary for the existence of the ODEs were obtained and it is almost in consistent with the support that defined the various probability functions considered. The parameters that defined each distribution greatly affect the nature of the ODEs obtained. This method provides new ways of classifying and approximating other probability distributions apart from half‐Cauchy and power Cauchy distributions considered in this chapter. In addition, the result of the quantile function can be compared with quantile approximation using the quantile mechanics

Caries inhibitory effect of fluoridated sugar in a trial in Indonesia

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Background: In some regional areas of Indonesia, caries prevalence is increasing rapidly. As water, salt or milk fluoridation were not considered suitable for use throughout Indonesia, and fluoridated tooth paste is mostly too expensive, a fluoride cocrystallised sugar containing 10ppm fluoride was prepared. Its efficacy in inhibiting caries development was tested in a field trial. Methods: The field trial was established in Medan, Sumatera. All dietary background data necessary to ensure the safety of a trial were collected. Subjects chosen were 176 children who were residents of two orphanages and a boarding school for children of poor rural families. The trial used a double-blind format. Close monitoring of fluoride consumption was maintained, and fluoride excretion rates were assessed six monthly by urinary fluoride analysis. Results: Records of total tooth surface caries present initially and after 18 months of sugar supply showed that the children using fluoridated sugar had significantly fewer carious lesions than those who used normal sugar. Conclusion: This result indicates that sugar might be considered as a further vehicle for supplementary dietary fluoride in communities where there is a high caries prevalence or high caries risk and little exposure to fluoride.Mulyani, J McIntyr