Dental News

ADA, National Association of School Nurses team up on oral health awareness campaign

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:09:52 -0800

The ADA and the National Association of School Nurses will launch a nationwide school-based oral health awareness campaign this summer.
The campaign, "Empowering School Nurses to Change Oral Health Perceptions," will provide school nurses with oral health resources and messages for use in classrooms and health offices. The campaign will be funded through a grant to the NASN from the DentaQuest Foundation.
The effort supports a 2010 House resolution directing the Association to offer resources that support school-based oral health programs.
The school nurses' association will collaborate with the ADA to conduct a needs assessment beginning this month to evaluate school nurses' oral health knowledge, perceptions and practices. With input from the ADA, the NASN will also convene a national advisory group to identify available resources and work with the ADA to help distribute National Children's Dental Health Month materials and develop new materials—most of them Web-based and free to the public—for launch this summer.
"The ADA looks forward to collaborating with school nurses to help children and their parents understand that oral health is an important part of overall health," said ADA President Raymond F. Gist. "Working together in communities across the nation, school nurses and dentists can help raise awareness about the need for good oral hygiene, good nutrition and regular dental visits in order to prevent dental disease."
The NASN seeks to support school nurses in helping reduce the estimated 51 million hours of school children miss due to dental disease through promoting materials that can improve families' health literacy in dentistry.
"The program will support school nurses in their efforts to keep children healthy and ready to learn; assess school nurses' oral health awareness and activities; provide them with resources and messages that can be used in their schools and communities; and encourage collaboration between nurses and oral health professionals in their communities and states," said Dr. Gary Davis, chair of the ADA Council on Access, Prevention and Interprofessional Relations. "This effort also ties in to Resolution 38H-2010, which specifically directs the ADA to reach out to national school agencies like the NASN to discuss possible collaborations to promote materials pertaining to school-based oral health programs."
The NASN has some 15,000 members and chapters in 49 states and the District of Columbia, but also plan to make materials available to more than 60,000 school nurses nationally.
"School nurses work to ensure that students are healthy, in school and ready to learn," said Amy Garcia, NASN executive director. "Since 98 percent of children spend their days in school, addressing oral health through the school nurse makes sense."

ADA commends new fluoride recommendations

Fri, 7 Jan 2011 00:14:44 -0800

Washington—The Association commended new government recommendations Jan. 7 on fluoride in drinking water and said the ADA will continue advocating for community water fluoridation at the proposed levels.
“This is a superb example of a government agency fulfilling its mission to protect and enhance the health of the American people,” said Dr. Raymond F. Gist, president of the American Dental Association. “We have always looked to the federal health agencies to guide us on this and other public health matters, and we will continue to do so.
“We applaud the Department of Health and Human Services for reaffirming the safety and efficacy of optimal community water fluoridation, with science on their side,” the Association president said.
“Dentistry has succeeded in preventing disease better than any other area of health care,” said Dr. Gist. “Water fluoridation is one of our most potent weapons in disease prevention, and we want as many people as possible to have the benefits of this simple, safe, inexpensive and proven health care measure.
“The ADA has long advocated for all Americans to have the best possible oral health. The recommended level has been set at the lower optimal limit, but the health benefits of fluoridation remain. The only real, known health risk is the dramatic increased levels of disease that are likely to afflict people without access to optimally fluoridated water.” Learn more about the health benefits and safety of optimally fluoridated water from the ADA.
Federal agencies in joint announcements proposed a change in the recommended level of fluoride in drinking water. The HHS department proposed setting the level at the lowest end of the current optimal range to prevent tooth decay. The Environmental Protection Agency is initiating review of the maximum amount of naturally-occurring fluoride allowed in drinking water under current regulations.
“Today’s announcement is part of our ongoing support of appropriate fluoridation for community water systems and its effectiveness in preventing tooth decay throughout one’s lifetime,” HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh, M.D., said in a statement posted at http://www.hhs.gov.
These are science based decisions, Dr. Koh told Association volunteer leaders and senior staff in a briefing before the public announcement.
“We view this as a continued affirmation of fluoridation as a public health advance, and we view this as a way of updating recommendations based on the best available science provided in this case by the EPA and other top scientists in the federal family,” the HHS health official said.
“So we want to continue to send a message that fluoridation is critical for oral health. It is a major public health achievement, and community water fluoridation should proceed according to the best science possible, and that’s going to be our message.”
The proposal to recalibrate the ratio of fluoride to drinking water to a specific point at the lower end of the current recommended range is based on an increase in dental fluorosis over the last 20 years, said Dr. William G. Kohn, director of the division of oral health at the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is not about safety within a narrow range at all,” said Dr. Kohn. “In this whole documentation you see that. Even at our current range, we don’t feel that there is a safety issue here. It’s just that based on the current science we don’t need a range anymore.” More information is available at CDC fluoridation.
The federal government is not recommending that communities stop adding fluoride to drinking water, the Association said in communications with state and local dental leaders. “Rather, it has recalibrated its recommendation for what it considers an effective level of fluoride to reduce the incidence of tooth decay while minimizing the rate of fluorosis in the general population, which has been slowly increasing,” the Association said.

Taste genes may predict caries risk

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:52:08 -0700

The genetic codes that determine food preferences may also determine caries risk, according to a recent study.
Families recruited by the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia were evaluated with biological samples, demographic data and a clinical oral health examination to identify key genes that might be related to dental caries.
“Given the influence of dietary habits on dental caries, we hypothesized that taste pathway genes, such as genes for taste preference, might influence caries risk,” said the researchers.
The scientists analyzed the dental records of more than 2,400 patients—almost 500 with primary teeth, nearly 1,400 with permanent teeth and more than 560 with mixed dentition. The data showed a significant association with two genes, one that predicted caries risk and one that was associated with caries protection.
The study was published electronically by the Journal of Dental Research.
Dr. Tim Wright, Bawden Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry at Chapel Hill and vice-chair of the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs, called the study “interesting and groundbreaking.”
“Investigation of the role of taste preference in dental caries provides insight into the multifaceted behavioral factors that contribute to the etiology of dental caries,” said Dr. Wright. “The study by Steven et al., and the association of genetic variations in taste pathway genes and dental caries provides novel information on how an individual’s genetic constitution may help define behaviors associated with disease risk. Understanding the many factors involved in the etiology of dental caries, such as genetics, behavior, environment, biofilm and other contributing elements will ultimately allow us to provide more targeted and efficient preventive and restorative approaches for managing this highly prevalent disease.”
Dr. Wright’s editorial on the study, “Defining the Contribution of Genetics in the Etiology of Dental Caries,” was also published online Sept. 21 (http://jdr.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/09/02/0022034510379828.citation).
Emphasizing that caries “is the most prevalent childhood and chronic disease worldwide,” and it is influenced by a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors, including dietary habits, researchers said their ultimate goal was to use the study results to develop prevention and treatment strategies designed to target specific environmental modifications that address patients’ genetics—like taste preferences.

Open wide! Nation's dentists address access with free care for kids

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:14:28 -0800

Underserved children to benefit from annual Give Kids A Smile! events
CHICAGO, January 28—February is National Children's Dental Health Month and on Feb. 1, more than 51,000 dental professionals will provide free dental services to more than 500,000 children from low-income families, at more than 2,000 sites nationwide. It's all part of the American Dental Association's (ADA) sixth annual Give Kids A Smile program, which offers educational materials, screenings and, where possible, free dental care such as cleaning, fluoride treatments, fillings and even more intensive care.
Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease affecting American children, five times more common than asthma according to a report by the U.S. Surgeon General. And reversing a half century of progress, recent CDC data shows that tooth decay is on the rise among preschoolers. Untreated oral disease has been linked to childhood infections and more catastrophic illnesses such as the untreated abscess that took the life in 2007 of a 12-year-old Maryland boy, Deamonte Driver. More commonly, tooth decay greatly restricts children's daily activities and results in the loss of many millions of hours of classroom time each year.
"Dental care remains a critical unmet health care need among America's children," said Mark J. Feldman, D.M.D., president of the American Dental Association. "The ADA and dentists across the nation are engaged in creating public awareness of this critical need and trying to extend access to dental care to more low-income children. To this end we are celebrating Feb. 1st with our sixth annual Give Kids A Smile program, to help put children on the road to a lifetime of good oral health."
The ADA launched its national Give Kids A Smile program to combat what the U.S. Surgeon General called "a silent epidemic" of dental disease and to encourage parents, health professionals, policymakers and everyone who cares about children to address this important health issue.
The ADA recommends that children see a dentist no later than their first birthdays. However, studies reveal that only three out of five children have done so by the time they enter kindergarten. Because of inattention and other barriers to oral care, more than half (52-percent) of children ages six to eight have tooth decay, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in its Healthy People 2010 oral health update.
Give Kids A Smile events are offered by groups of dentists in their private practices and by individual dentists in a variety of locations, coast to coast. A national centerpiece Give Kids A Smile event will be held on Feb. 1 at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine in Aurora and attended by ADA Board Member Kenneth J. Versman, D.D.S., and by ADA Executive Director James B. Bramson, D.D.S. Previewing the events, ADA President-Elect John S. Findley, D.D.S., will appear on a number of morning television programs on Thursday, Jan. 31.
The ADA strongly supports several bills before Congress to help improve access to oral health care, including the Children's Dental Health Improvement Act of 2007 and H.R. 2371, known as "Deamonte's Law," named for the child who died in Maryland of an untreated abscess. And ADA urges parents to take control of their families' oral health by making sure that their children brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, floss daily, eat a balanced diet and see dentists regularly to address any tooth decay before it develops into greater health issues.
Give Kids A Smile events would not be possible without the dental professionals who volunteer their time and services as well as the generous support of corporate sponsors. In 2008, the Colgate-Palmolive Company will supply 300,000 toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste for Give Kids A Smile events; DEXIS Digital X-ray will offer the use of one DEXIS Digital X-ray system to each U.S. dental school participating in Give Kids A Smile, as well as support staff to assist in the taking of X-rays; and Henry Schein Dental will provide professional dental kits containing such products as gloves, masks, patient bibs, dental floss, prophy paste and fluoride gel, foam and varnish. Give Kids A Smile is also being expanded this year to include grants that will be awarded to access programs for the underserved. Those grants are made possible through generous founding and sustaining donations by CareCredit, the world's largest provider of patient financing, and significant donations by the William Wrigley Jr. Co.
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Editors: Due to the need for signed parental permission and other documentation, most Give Kids A Smile events can only see children who are registered in advance, in most cases through schools and social service clubs and agencies. For a list and contact information of events in your state, visit http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/ada/31171/ and click on your state on the map.

Amalgam fillings don’t affect children’s brain development, says study in ADA Journal

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:09:02 -0800

Dental amalgam tooth fillings do not adversely affect children's brain development and neurological status, researchers report in the February issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association.
The authors of the report—members of a joint team from the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and the University of Washington, Seattle—studied the possible neurological effects of dental amalgam tooth restorations. Dental amalgam contains elemental mercury combined with other metals such as silver, copper, tin and zinc to form a safe, stable alloy. Dental amalgam has been used for generations to fill decayed teeth that might otherwise have been lost.
Beginning in 1997 and continuing for seven years, the authors studied 507 Portuguese children aged 8 through 12 years who received either amalgam or resin-based composite fillings. They conducted routine clinical neurological examinations to assess two types of neurological signs: hard (indicating damage to specific neural structures) and soft (subtle signs of central nervous system dysfunction that likely point to immature sensory-motor skills rather than to any structural damage in the brain). The researchers also evaluated the children for presence of tremor.
After seven years, the two groups of children did not differ in terms of the presence or absence of hard signs or tremor. They also didn't differ in terms of the presence or absence or severity of soft signs at any point. Also, as expected in healthy children, the severity of any neurological soft signs diminished as the children aged.
"Even at the levels of amalgam exposure in this study (a mean of 7.7-10.7 amalgam surfaces per subject across the seven years of follow-up)," the authors write, "[we] conclude that exposure to mercury from dental amalgam does not adversely affect neurological status.
"These data indicate the absence of a generalized negative effect on children's nervous system functions stemming from the presence of dental amalgam," they continue, "and while we cannot rule out potential adverse reactions in individual children, we found no indications of any."
JADA, a monthly journal, is the ADA's flagship publication and the most widely read scientific journal in dentistry.
About the American Dental Association The not-for-profit ADA is the nation's largest dental association, representing more than 155,000 dentist members. The premier source of oral health information, the ADA has advocated for the public's health and promoted the art and science of dentistry since 1859. The ADA's state-of-the-art research facilities develop and test dental products and materials that have advanced the practice of dentistry and made the patient experience more positive. The ADA Seal of Acceptance long has been a valuable and respected guide to consumer and professional products. For more information about the ADA, visit the Association's Web site at www.ada.org.