Measuring Dental Caries in the Mixed Dentition by ICDAS

Caries has traditionally been assessed with WHO criteria including only obvious caries lesions. ICDAS has been developed to detect also the enamel caries lesions. This study aims to study caries and the associations of the number of caries lesions between the permanent and primary molars with ICDAS in the mixed dentition of the first and second grade primary school children. The clinical examinations of 485 children were conducted by four examiners with high reproducibility (inter- and intraexaminer kappas >0.9). The mean number of caries lesions—especially dentine caries—seemed to be higher in the second primary molars than in the first permanent molars. There were significant correlations between the number of lesions on occlusal and lingual surfaces between the primary and permanent molars. Enamel caries lesions, restorations, and caries experience did not increase according to age. Therefore, caries might be increasing in this population. As a conclusion, ICDAS recording seems to give appropriate information from the occurrence of caries lesions and its correlations between the primary and permanent teeth and surfaces

Oral health knowledge and behavior among male health sciences college students in Kuwait

BACKGROUND: Health auxiliary personnel have an important role in oral health promotion when they graduate and start working in the health care system. This study aims to find out oral health knowledge and oral health behavior of male Health Sciences College students. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to all students at the male Health Sciences College in Kuwait (N = 153) during the academic year 2001/2002. The students filled the anonymous questionnaire in the class after the lecture. The response rate was 84% (n = 128). The questions consisted information on the general background, oral health behavior and oral health knowledge. RESULTS: Oral health knowledge seemed to be limited and very few background factors were associated with it. More than half of the students had visited a dentist during the previous 12 months, but only one third of students were brushing twice a day or more often. CONCLUSIONS: It may be concluded that the male Health Sciences College students seemed to have appropriate knowledge on some oral health topics, but limited knowledge on the others. Their toothbrushing practices are still far behind the international recommendation (twice a day) and also the knowledge, why it should be done so frequently also very limited

Long-Term Effect of Erythritol on Dental Caries Development during Childhood: A Posttreatment Survival Analysis

Objective: Assess the effect of daily consumption of erythritol, xylitol, and sorbitol candies on caries development in mixed dentition during a three-year intervention and three years after the intervention. Methods: 485 Estonian first and second grade primary school children participated. Children were randomly allocated to an erythritol, xylitol, or sorbitol (control) group. Polyol-containing candies were administered on school days with a daily polyol consumption of 3x2.5 g. Yearly, caries development was assessed by calibrated dentists using the ICDAS criteria. Six years after initiation of the study and three years after cessation of daily polyol consumption, 420 participants were re-examined to identify potential long-term effects of polyol consumption. Survival curves were generated at the end of the intervention period and three years post intervention. The model included age of the subjects, schools, tooth surface ages and years of surface exposure to intervention. ICDAS scoring system based events included enamel/dentine caries development, dentine caries development, increase in caries score, and dentist intervention. Results: At the end of the intervention, time to enamel/dentine caries development, dentine caries development, increase in caries score, and dentist intervention was significantly longer in the erythritol group as compared to the sorbitol group. Except for increase in caries score, all effects persisted three years after cessation of daily polyol consumption. Conclusions: A caries preventive effect of three-year erythritol consumption as compared to sorbitol was established in children with mixed dentition. The effect persisted up to three years after the end of the intervention. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01062633

Impact of polyols on oral microbiome of Estonian schoolchildren

Background - Oral microbiome has significant impact on both oral and general health. Polyols have been promoted as sugar substitutes in prevention of oral diseases. We aimed to reveal the effect of candies containing erythritol, xylitol or control (sorbitol) on salivary microbiome. Methods - Ninety children (11.3 ± 0.6 years) consumed candies during 3 years. Microbial communities were profiled using Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencing and real-time PCR. Results - The dominant phyla in saliva were Firmicutes (39.1%), Proteobacteria (26.1%), Bacteroidetes (14.7%), Actinobacteria (12%) and Fusobacteria (6%). The microbiome of erythritol group significantly differed from that of the other groups. Both erythritol and xylitol reduced the number of observed bacterial phylotypes in comparison to the control group. The relative abundance of the genera Veillonella, Streptococcus and Fusobacterium were higher while that of Bergeyella lower after erythritol intervention when comparing with control. The lowest prevalence of caries-related mutans streptococci corresponded with the lowest clinical caries markers in the erythritol group. Conclusions - Daily consumption of erythritol, xylitol or control candies has a specific influence on the salivary microbiome composition in schoolchildren. Erythritol is associated with the lowest prevalence of caries-related mutans streptococci and the lowest levels of clinical caries experience