Fluoride retention in saliva and in dental biofilm after different home-use fluoride treatments

This single-blind, randomized, crossover study aimed at assessing the long-term fluoride concentrations in saliva and in dental biofilm after different home-use fluoride treatments. The study volunteers (n = 38) were residents of an area with fluoridated drinking water. They were administered four treatments, each of which lasted for one week: twice-daily placebo dentifrice, twice-daily fluoride dentifrice, twice-daily fluoride dentifrice and once-daily fluoride mouthrinse, and thrice-daily fluoride dentifrice. At the end of each treatment period, samples of unstimulated saliva and dental biofilm were collected 8 h after the last oral hygiene procedure. Fluoride concentrations in saliva and dental biofilm were analyzed using a specific electrode. The fluoride concentrations in saliva and dental biofilm 8 h after the last use of fluoride products did not differ among treatments. The results of this study suggest that treatments with home-use fluoride products have no long-term effect on fluoride concentrations in saliva and in dental biofilm of residents of an area with a fluoridated water supply

Deposition of fluoride on enamel surfaces released from varnishes is limited to vicinity of fluoridation site

The aim of the in-situ study was to determine fluoride uptake in non-fluoridated, demineralized enamel after application of fluoride varnishes on enamel samples located at various distances from the non-fluoridated samples. All enamel samples used were demineralized with acidic hydroxyethylcellulose before the experiment. Intra-oral appliances were worn by ten volunteers in three series: (1, Mirafluorid, 0.15% F; 2, Duraphat, 2.3% F and 3, unfluoridated controls) of 6 days each. Each two enamel samples were prepared from 30 bovine incisors. One sample was used for the determination of baseline fluoride content (BFC); the other was treated according to the respective series and fixed in the intra-oral appliance for 6 days. Additionally, from 120 incisors, each four enamel samples were prepared (one for BFC). Three samples (a–c) were placed into each appliance at different sites: (a) directly neighboured to the fluoridated specimen (=next), (b) at 1-cm distance (=1 cm) and (c) in the opposite buccal aspect of the appliance (=opposite). At these sites, new unfluoridated samples were placed at days 1, 3 and 5, which were left in place for 1 day. The volunteers brushed their teeth and the samples with fluoridated toothpaste twice per day. Both the KOH-soluble and structurally bound fluoride were determined in all samples to determine fluoride uptake and were statistically analyzed. One day, after fluoridation with Duraphat, KOH-soluble fluoride uptake in specimen a (=next) was significantly higher compared to the corresponding samples of both the control and Mirafluorid series, which in turn were not significantly different from each other. At all other sites and time points, fluoride uptake in the enamel samples were not different from controls for both fluoride varnishes. Within the first day after application, intra-oral-fluoride release from the tested fluoride varnish Duraphat leads to KOH-soluble fluoride uptake only in enamel samples located in close vicinity to the fluoridation site

Effect of fluoride toothpastes on enamel demineralization

BACKGROUND: It was the aim of this study to investigate the effect of four different toothpastes with differing fluoride compounds on enamel remineralization. METHODS: A 3 × 3 mm window on the enamel surface of 90 human premolars was demineralized in a hydroxyethylcellulose solution at pH 4.8. The teeth were divided into 6 groups and the lower half of the window was covered with varnish serving as control. The teeth were immersed in a toothpaste slurry containing: placebo tooth paste (group 1); remineralization solution (group 2); Elmex Anticaries (group 3); Elmex Sensitive (group 4); Blend-a-med Complete (group 5) and Colgate GRF (group 6). Ten teeth of each group were used for the determination of the F(- )content in the superficial enamel layer and acid solubility of enamel expressed in soluble phosphorus. Of 6 teeth of each group serial sections were cut and investigated with polarization light microscopy (PLM) and quantitative energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). RESULTS: The PLM results showed an increased remineralization of the lesion body in the Elmex Anticaries, Elmex Sensitive and Colgate GRF group but not in the Blend-a-med group. A statistically significant higher Ca content was found in the Elmex Anticaries group. The fluoride content in the superficial enamel layer was significantly increased in both Elmex groups and the Blend-a-med group. Phosphorus solubility was significantly decreased in both Elmex groups and the Blend-a-med group. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that amine fluoride compounds in toothpastes result in a clearly marked remineralization of caries like enamel lesions followed by sodium fluoride and sodium monofluorophosphate formulations

Mixed Emotional Experience Is Associated with and Precedes Improvements in Psychological Well-Being

BACKGROUND: The relationships between positive and negative emotional experience and physical and psychological well-being have been well-documented. The present study examines the prospective positive relationship between concurrent positive and negative emotional experience and psychological well-being in the context of psychotherapy. METHODS: 47 adults undergoing psychotherapy completed measures of psychological well-being and wrote private narratives that were coded by trained raters for emotional content. RESULTS: The specific concurrent experience of happiness and sadness was associated with improvements in psychological well-being above and beyond the impact of the passage of time, personality traits, or the independent effects of happiness and sadness. Changes in mixed emotional experience preceded improvements in well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Experiencing happiness alongside sadness in psychotherapy may be a harbinger of improvement in psychological well-being

Fluoride bioavailability in saliva and plaque

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Different fluoride formulations may have different effects on caries prevention. It was the aim of this clinical study to assess the fluoride content, provided by NaF compared to amine fluoride, in saliva and plaque.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight trained volunteers brushed their teeth in the morning for 3 minutes with either NaF or amine fluoride, and saliva and 3-day-plaque-regrowth was collected at 5 time intervals during 6 hours after tooth brushing. The amount of collected saliva and plaque was measured, and the fluoride content was analysed using a fluoride sensitive electrode. All subjects repeated all study cycles 5 times, and 3 cycles per subject underwent statistical analysis using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Immediately after brushing the fluoride concentration in saliva increased rapidly and dropped to the baseline level after 360 minutes. No difference was found between NaF and amine fluoride. All plaque fluoride levels were elevated after 30 minutes until 120 minutes after tooth brushing, and decreasing after 360 minutes to baseline. According to the highly individual profile of fluoride in saliva and plaque, both levels of bioavailability correlated for the first 30 minutes, and the fluoride content of saliva and plaque was back to baseline after 6 hours.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Fluoride levels in saliva and plaque are interindividually highly variable. However, no significant difference in bioavailability between NaF and amine fluoride, in saliva, or in plaque was found.</p

Dentifrices, mouthwashes, and remineralization/caries arrestment strategies

While our knowledge of the dental caries process and its prevention has greatly advanced over the past fifty years, it is fair to state that the management of this disease at the level of the individual patient remains largely empirical. Recommendations for fluoride use by patients at different levels of caries risk are mainly based on the adage that more is better. There is a general understanding that the fluoride compound, concentration, frequency of use, duration of exposure, and method of delivery can influence fluoride efficacy. Two important factors are (1) the initial interaction of relatively high concentrations of fluoride with the tooth surface and plaque during application and (2) the retention of fluoride in oral fluids after application

High intensity intermittent games-based activity and adolescents’ cognition: moderating effect of physical fitness

Background: An acute bout of exercise elicits a beneficial effect on subsequent cognitive function in adolescents. The effect of games-based activity, an ecologically valid and attractive exercise model for young people, remains unknown; as does the moderating effect of fitness on the acute exercise-cognition relationship. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the effect of games-based activity on subsequent cognition in adolescents, and the moderating effect of fitness on this relationship. Methods: Following ethical approval, 39 adolescents (12.3 ± 0.7 year) completed an exercise and resting trial in a counterbalanced, randomised crossover design. During familiarisation, participants completed a multi-stage fitness test to predict VO2 peak. The exercise trial consisted of 60-min games-based activity (basketball), during which heart rate was 158 ± 11 beats∙min−1. A battery of cognitive function tests (Stroop test, Sternberg paradigm, trail making and d2 tests) were completed 30-min before, immediately following and 45-min following the basketball. Results: Response times on the complex level of the Stroop test were enhanced both immediately (p = 0.021) and 45-min (p = 0.035) post-exercise, and response times on the five item level of the Sternberg paradigm were enhanced immediately post-exercise (p = 0.023). There were no effects on the time taken to complete the trail making test or any outcome of the d2 test. In particular, response times were enhanced in the fitter adolescents 45-min post-exercise on both levels of the Stroop test (simple, p = 0.005; complex, p = 0.040) and on the three item level of the Sternberg paradigm immediately (p = 0.017) and 45-min (p = 0.008) post-exercise. Conclusions: Games-based activity enhanced executive function and working memory scanning speed in adolescents, an effect particularly evident in fitter adolescents, whilst the high intensity intermittent nature of games-based activity may be too demanding for less fit children

Explicit attention interferes with selective emotion processing in human extrastriate cortex

BACKGROUND: Brain imaging and event-related potential studies provide strong evidence that emotional stimuli guide selective attention in visual processing. A reflection of the emotional attention capture is the increased Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) for pleasant and unpleasant compared to neutral images (~150–300 ms poststimulus). The present study explored whether this early emotion discrimination reflects an automatic phenomenon or is subject to interference by competing processing demands. Thus, emotional processing was assessed while participants performed a concurrent feature-based attention task varying in processing demands. RESULTS: Participants successfully performed the primary visual attention task as revealed by behavioral performance and selected event-related potential components (Selection Negativity and P3b). Replicating previous results, emotional modulation of the EPN was observed in a task condition with low processing demands. In contrast, pleasant and unpleasant pictures failed to elicit increased EPN amplitudes compared to neutral images in more difficult explicit attention task conditions. Further analyses determined that even the processing of pleasant and unpleasant pictures high in emotional arousal is subject to interference in experimental conditions with high task demand. Taken together, performing demanding feature-based counting tasks interfered with differential emotion processing indexed by the EPN. CONCLUSION: The present findings demonstrate that taxing processing resources by a competing primary visual attention task markedly attenuated the early discrimination of emotional from neutral picture contents. Thus, these results provide further empirical support for an interference account of the emotion-attention interaction under conditions of competition. Previous studies revealed the interference of selective emotion processing when attentional resources were directed to locations of explicitly task-relevant stimuli. The present data suggest that interference of emotion processing by competing task demands is a more general phenomenon extending to the domain of feature-based attention. Furthermore, the results are inconsistent with the notion of effortlessness, i.e., early emotion discrimination despite concurrent task demands. These findings implicate to assess the presumed automatic nature of emotion processing at the level of specific aspects rather than considering automaticity as an all-or-none phenomenon