Dental Tribune Nordic Edition No.4, 2016

04 Dental Tribune Nordic Edition | 4/2016 WORLD NEWS Plaque-identifying toothpaste could reduce risk of heart disease and stroke By DTI BOCA RATON, Fla., USA: Health experts worldwide agree that oral health and inflammatory diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and stroke, are correlated. A recently published study has shown that users of a toothpaste that identifies plaque buildup on teeth also exhibited lower levels of a heart disease marker, suggesting that the toothpaste resulted in statistically significant reductions in dental plaque and inflamma- tion throughout the body. In the study, 61 healthy indi- viduals (aged 19–44) were ran- domly divided into two groups. While one group (31) used the plaque-identifying toothpaste for 60 days, the second group (30) used a placebo toothpaste for the same duration. To assess dental plaque, all participants utilized a fluorescein mouthrinse and in- traoral photographs were taken under black light imaging. An analysis showed that the plaque-identifying toothpaste re- duced the mean plaque score by 49 per cent compared with a 24 per cent reduction in the placebo group. In addition, laboratory tests in a pre-specified subgroup of 38 participants found that the plaque-identifying toothpaste re- duced levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a sen- sitive marker for future heart at- tacks and strokes, by 29 per cent, while hs-CRP levels increased by 25 per cent in individuals using the placebo toothpaste. Plaque HD, the toothpaste used in this study, was introduced at the beginning of 2016. It in- corporates Targetol Technology, which contains all-natural, plant- based disclosing agents, and colors any plaque and thus helps users remove up to four times more plaque than standard tooth- pastes do. The researchers concluded that the observed reduction sup- ports the hypothesis that Plaque HD could reduce the risk of car- diovascular disease. However, a large-scale randomised trial of sufficient size and duration is needed to verify the results, they stated. The study, titled “Randomized trial of plaque identifying tooth- paste: Dental plaque and inflam- mation,” was published online on 19 October in the American Journal of Medicine ahead of print. It was conducted at Florida Atlantic Uni- versity in the US. New review: Oral health education by itself is ineffective in preventing caries By DTI MELBOURNE, Australia: Evaluating the effectiveness of oral health promotion strategies for prevent- ing dental caries and periodon- tal disease among children, re- searchers from the Cochrane Public Health Group have found that oral health education alone, such as classroom lessons, videos, comics and brochures, was inef- fective. From analysis of the results of 38 international studies, the Cochrane researchers found that oral health education as a stand- alone measure, had no significant impact on caries in permanent or primary teeth and surfaces. None- theless, some of the studies re- ported improvements in gingival health, oral hygiene behaviours and oral cleanliness, the review showed. “There is a general perception that oral health education will change oral health risk behav- iours and promote good oral health practices,” commented Dr Shalika Hegde, a research fellow at Dental Health Services Victoria in Melbourne and part of the Cochrane Public Health Group, on the findings in an article on DrBicuspid.com. “However, this thinking is fundamentally flawed, as knowledge gained alone will not lead to sustained changes in oral health,” Hegde empha- sised. When coupled with other measures, such as supervised toothbrushing with fluoridated toothpaste, oral health promotion interventions were generally found to be effective in reducing caries in children’s primary teeth. Moreover, oral health education provided in an educational set- ting, combined with professional preventative oral care in a dental clinic, was effective in reducing caries in children’s permanent teeth, the researchers found. Another most promising in- tervention approach for reduc- ing caries in children—although additional research is needed— appears to be improving access to fluoride in its various forms and reducing sugar consumption, Hegde told Dental Tribune. Generally, the findings of this review will have global implica- tions in the area of models of oral health care delivery and oral health promotion, research, policy and practice, Hegde con- cluded. The review, which was the first of its kind at an international level, included data on 119,789 children in 21 countries from studies conducted between Janu- ary 1996 and April 2014. All of the studies reviewed focused on com- munity-based oral health promo- tion interventions for preventing caries and periodontal disease among children from birth to 18 years of age. Thereview,titled“Community- based population-level interven- tions for promoting child oral health”, was published online on 15 September in the Cochrane Da- tabase of Systematic Reviews. International researchers from the Cochrane Public Health Group have aimed to determine which promotion strategies are most effective and equitable in preventing poor oral health. Brushing one’s teeth with a special plaque-identifying toothpaste could help prevent cardiovascular disease. © Ruslan Guzov/Shutterstock.com © Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock.com

Dental Tribune Nordic Edition No.4, 2016

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