Fluoride toothpastes and fluoride mouthrinses for home use

Objective. To provide a brief commentary review of fluoride-containing toothpastes and mouthrinses with emphasis on their use at home. Toothpastes and mouthrinses are just two of many ways of providing fluoride for the prevention of dental caries. The first investigations into incorporating fluoride into toothpastes and mouthrinses were reported in the middle 1940s. Unlike water fluoridation (which is ‘automatic fluoridation’), fluoride-containing toothpastes and fluoride-containing mouthrinses are, primarily, for home use and need to be purchased by the individual. By the 1960s, research indicated that fluoride could be successfully incorporated into toothpastes and clinical trials demonstrated their effectiveness. By the end of the 1970s, almost all toothpastes contained fluoride. The widespread use of fluoride-containing toothpastes is thought to be the main reason for much improved oral health in many countries. Of the many fluoride compounds investigated, sodium fluoride, with a compatible abrasive, is the most popular, although amine fluorides are used widely in Europe. The situation is similar for mouthrinses. Concentrations of fluoride (F), commonly found, are 1500 ppm (1500 μg F/g) for toothpastes and 225 ppm (225 μg F/ml) for mouthrinse. Several systematic reviews have concluded that fluoride-containing toothpastes and mouthrinses are effective, and that there is added benefit from their use with other fluoride delivery methods such as water fluoridation. Guidelines for the appropriate use of fluoride toothpastes and mouthrinses are available in many countries.Conclusion. Fluoride toothpastes and mouthrinses have been developed and extensive testing has demonstrated that they are effective and their use should be encouraged

Combining social and nutritional perspectives: from adolescence to adulthood (the ASH30 study)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus specifically on the benefits of using mixed methods to investigate dietary change from adolescence to adulthood exemplified using the findings from the ASH30 longitudinal study. The ASH30 study is a longitudinal dietary survey which provided quantitative evidence of dietary change and investigated factors influencing dietary change from adolescence to adulthood. Design/methodology/approach Two three-day food diaries were collected both in 1980 (aged 11-12 years) and 2000 (aged 31-32 years) from the same 198 respondents in North East England. In 2,000 questionnaires were used to collect perceptions of, and attributions for, dietary change and open-ended responses were analysed using content analysis. Findings The use of mixed methods brings added breadth and depth to the research which cannot be achieved by a single discipline or method. Determining what has influenced change in dietary behaviour from adolescence to adulthood is a complex and multifaceted task. Eating habits are influenced by multiple factors throughout the life course. Change in food intake between adolescence and adulthood related to life-course events and trajectories. The qualitative findings highlighted relevant contextual information such as themes of moral panics, the concept of “convenience” and “fresh” foods. Practical implications Adopting mixed method approaches to exploring dietary change should offer a rich perspective from which to base realistic interventions. Originality/value Longitudinal dietary surveys present an opportunity to understand the complex process of dietary change throughout the life course in terms both of how diets have changed but also of why they have changed

Milk fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries

The aim of this review is to give an overview of 55 years experience of milk fluoridation and draw conclusions about the applicability of the method. Fluoridated milk was first investigated in the early 1950s, almost simultaneously in Switzerland, the USA and Japan. Stimulated by the favourable results obtained from these early studies, the establishment of The Borrow Dental Milk Foundation (subsequently The Borrow Foundation) in England gave an excellent opportunity for further research, both clinical and non-clinical, and a productive collaboration with the World Health Organization which began in the early 1980s. Numerous peer-reviewed publications in international journals showed clearly the bioavailability of fluoride in various types of milk. Clinical trials were initiated in the 1980s – some of these can be classed as randomised controlled trials, while most of the clinical studies were community preventive programmes. Conclusion. These evaluations showed clearly that the optimal daily intake of fluoride in milk is effective in preventing dental caries. The amount of fluoride added to milk depends on background fluoride exposure and age of the children: commonly in the range 0.5 to 1.0 mg per day. An advantage of the method is that a precise amount of fluoride can be delivered under controlled conditions. The cost of milk fluoridation programmes is low, about € 2 to 3 per child per year. Fluoridation of milk can be recommended as a caries preventive measure where the fluoride concentration in drinking water is suboptimal, caries experience in children is significant, and there is an existing school milk programme

The stability of food intake between adolescence and adulthood: a 21-year follow-up

Studies of the diet of adolescents in the UK demonstrate that dietary habits known to be detrimental to health in adulthood are evident at an early age. For example, Gregory et al (2000) found 4-18 year olds in the UK to have a frequent consumption of fatty and sugary foods and low consumption of fruit and vegetables. Concerns have therefore been expressed regarding the diet of children and adolescents and the continuation of these dietary habits into adulthood (HEA, 1995; Gaziano, 1998). This study aimed to investigate the extent to which these concerns may be justified by determining the stability of food intake of a group of adolescents followed up 21 years later in adulthood. The investigation involved 202 individuals from whom dietary data were collected in 1979-80 (mean age 11.6 years) (Hackett et al. 1984) and again in 2000-1 (mean age 32.5 years). Dietary data were collected at both time-points using two 3 d estimated food diaries followed by an interview to determine portion sizes using the method considered most appropriate at the time, i.e. calibrated food models in 1979-80 and a photographic food atlas (Nelson et al. 1997) in 2000-1. Foods consumed were allocated to one, or a combination of, the five food groups of the ‘Balance of Good Health’ food selection guide (HEA, 1994) according to Gatenby et al. (1995). The weight of food eaten from each of the five food groups was calculated (percentage of total weight of food consumed) and Pearson correlation coefficients generated to provide an estimate of the stability of food intake. The HEA guide advises that a balanced diet should consist of around 33% fruit and vegetables, 33% bread, other cereals and potatoes, 8% foods containing fat and/or sugar, 12% meat, fish and alternatives and 15% milk and dairy products (Gatenby et al. 1995). A shift in the group’s food intake towards the recommendations had occurred with age, most notably with a decrease in foods containing fat and/or sugar and an increase in fruit and vegetables. Nevertheless, at both ages, intakes of foods containing fat and/or sugar, meat, fish and alternatives were higher, and fruit, vegetables, bread, other cereals and potatoes lower than currently recommended. In addition, although there was significant evidence of tracking of relative intake of bread, cereals and potatoes (P<0.01), fruit and vegetables (P<0.01), and meat, fish and alternatives (P=0.02) between 11.6 and 32.5 years, the correlations were not strong. In conclusion, food intake patterns had changed considerably from early adolescence through to adulthood in a direction more in line with the current recommendations. The predictive value of an adolescent’s food intake of their intake in adulthood was found to be significant, but not strong. Further investigations will consider the extent to which this is influenced by factors such as social class, gender and educational level, as well as assessing tracking in terms of relative nutrient intakes

Epidemiology and prevention of dental caries

No abstract available

Electrophysiological Dissociation of Picture Versus Word Encoding: The Distinctiveness Heuristic as a Retrieval Orientation

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate the neural processes underlying the distinctiveness heuristic— a response mode in which participants expect to remember vivid details of an experience and make recognition decisions based on this metacognitive expectation. One group of participants studied pictures and auditory words; another group studied visual and auditory words. Studied and novel items were presented at test as words only, with all novel items repeating after varying lags. ERP differences were seen between the word and picture groups for both studied and novel items. For the novel items, ERP differences were largest in frontal and central midline electrodes. In separate analyses, the picture group showed the greatest ERP differences between item types in a parietally based component from 550 to 1000 msec, whereas the word group showed the greatest differences in a frontally based component from 1000 to 2000 msec. The authors suggest that the distinctiveness heuristic is a retrieval orientation that facilitates reliance upon recollection to differentiate between item types. Although the picture group can use this heuristic and its retrieval orientation on the basis of recollection, the word group must engage additional postretrieval processes to distinguish between item types, reflecting the use of a different retrieval orientation.Psycholog

Polls on the Environment and Global Warming

This report is a meta-analysis of twenty years of public opinion polls about Americans views on environmental quality, environmental policy, and environmental science