Fluoride Use for Prevention
THE NEXT DDS
This is part II of our series on Contemporary Fluoride Use in Oral Health. For part I of this series, visit this link:
http://thenextdds.com/Podcasts/Contemporary-Fluoride-Use-in-Oral-Health/
Learning Objectives:
After listening to this podcast, the listener should:
- Understand how fluoride helps in the prevention of oral diseases such as caries
- See how water fluoridation in schools and public drinking water can be used in tandem with dental procedures like Acidulated Phosphate Fluoride solutions
Community
water fluoridation, one of the greatest public health achievements in the last
century, is an effective means of reducing dental caries by adjusting the
public water supply to an optimal level. Depending on the air temperature of an
area, the fluoride level in the water supply can range from 0.7 to 1.2 parts
per million. This range is based on the assumption that more water is consumed
in warmer climates. Providing both systemic and topical effects, community
water fluoridation reduces caries 40-50% for the primary dentition and 50-60%
for the permanent teeth.2 Fluoridation continues to offer
anti-caries benefits to older adults, thus preventing both coronal and root
caries. Root caries incidence has been directly linked to a low fluoride
concentration in drinking water, and lifelong residents of a community with
near-optimum levels of water fluoridation have been shown to have an average of
30% fewer root caries than those in a nonflouridated community.
Related Reading:
- Limeback H. A
re-examination of the pre-eruptive and post-eruptive mechanism of the
anti-caries effects of fluoride: is there any anti-caries benefit from
swallowing fluoride? Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 1999;27:62-71.
- Murray JJ, Rugg-Gunn AJ,
Jenkins GN. Fluorides in Caries Prevention. Wright, Oxford, 3rd ed, 1991.
- Warren JJ. Levy SM. Systemic
fluoride sources, amounts and effects of ingestion. Dental Clinics of North America. 1999;43(4):695-711.
- U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Oral Health in America-A
Report of the Surgeon General, Rockville,
MD. U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National
Institutes of Health, 2000.
- Stephen KW. Fluoride
prospects for the new millennium-community and individual patient aspects. Acta
Odontol Scand 1999;57:352-55.
- Banting DW.
International fluoride supplement recommendations. Community Dentistry and Oral
Epidemiology 1999;27:57-61.
- Warren DP. Chan JT. Topical
fluorides: efficacy, administration and safety. 1997;45(2):134-40.
- Newbrun E. Evolution of
professionally applied fluoride therapies. Compendium of Continuing Education
in Dentistry. 1999;20(Spec no. 1):5-9.
- Horowitz, HS et al.
Evaluation of a self-administered prophylaxis and supervised toothbrushing with
acidulated phosphate fluoride. Caries Res 1974;8: 39-51.
- Garcia-Godoy, F. et al. Acidulated phosphate fluoride treatment and formation of
caries-like lesions in enamel: effect of application time. J. Clin. Ped. Dent
1995;19:105-110.