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ePaper created 2018-01-31, 12:50:38 | version 1.38.0
C6 ◊Page C4 starts from infancy, by preventing jaw deformation and mouth breath- ing, continues into youth by moti- vating teens to maintain good oral health, and should not end when a patient becomes an adult. Everyone, regardless of his or her age, should feel attractive and beautiful. This means that we also need to help pa- tients with dentures, implants and dental appliances to maintain their oral health. Finally, it has also been discovered that the microbiota in the mouth has several very important functions that help maintain overall health. As the dental industry, we need to make sure that patients understand that they need bacteria in their mouths for their immune system. One sim- ply has to destroy the bad bacteria, es- pecially in hard-to-reach areas, such as interdental spaces, while keeping the good ones. While we have done a good job towards improved biofilm management, we need to present more scientific evidence that shows that the natural oral biofilm needs to be kept in a healthy balance. This includes everyone, from babies and children to teenagers, adults and seniors. Everybody needs a healthy HYGIENE TRIBUNE Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 1/2018 “When will we understand that our mission should be to keep patients healthy for a lifetime by providing them with the right products and education?” mouth for a healthy body in order to reduce the offset of chronic diseases. Better health for all If health insurance companies, gov- ernments and health organisations really want to establish a prevention- driven mind set in society, dentists are key. Dentists have the education, the capacity and the position in soci- ety to make prevention a priority— at least in Western cultures. The den- tal professional has the potential to become the preventive doctor of the future. Of course, this possibility is still very far from our current reality. However, most oral diseases are pre- ventable, simply through the daily care of teeth and gums. That’s why we want to change dentistry from a field of repairing, to one of health- orientated medicine. In this way, the dentist is responsible for the general health of people and not only for their teeth and gums. Curaden wants the dentist to finally become the gatekeeper of health by taking care of patients’ oral health. Together, we want to achieve better health for all, therefore a change in approach to- wards prevention is inevitable. nificantly to preventive dentistry. First, our CURAPROX brand supports health instead of fighting dental problems, such as caries or hyper- sensitivity. It is not against diseases, but rather for oral health. Our prod- ucts have the quality and design to inspire both the dental professional and the patient about oral health- care. Plus, no matter what our com- petitors are saying, we have the best interdental brushes on the market! A partner in preventive oral health As a company with decades of ex- perience, we have contributed sig- Secondly, no business or industry succeeds without that personal touch. Prophylaxis, whether in the dental practice or at home, needs to be more emotive. In order to encour- age people to take care of their oral health, they must be emotionally invested in the cause as well. Finally, change will only occur with proper education. As a company, we invest in knowledge-sharing and skills improvement by offering vari- ous programmes and webinars to educate dental professionals. These professionals then in turn can edu- cate their patients. All of this leads up to one important concept: the dentist will become one of the most important medical pro- fessionals in the future and we hope to be part of this evolution. I am looking forward to sharing some of our stories here in the mag- azine and I’m looking forward to reading other stories from my best friends (and enemies) about how we can change the world together. Editorial note: The interview was originally published in Prevention In- ternational Magazine for Oral Health 1/2017 Tap water good for teeth but may cause higher blood lead levels By DTI CHAPEL HILL, N.C., U.S.: American children and adolescents who drink tap water, which is typically fluori- dated, are much less likely to have tooth decay, according to a new study. However, researchers have confirmed that those who consume tap water are more likely to have el- evated levels of lead in their blood compared to those who primarily drink bottled water. Drs. Anne Sanders and Gary Slade, of the Department of Dental Ecol- ogy at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, analyzed a nationally representative sample of nearly 16,000 children and ado- lescents, aged from two to nineteen years old, who participated in the Na- tional Health and Nutrition Exami- nation Survey (NHANES), from 2005 to 2014. More than 12,000 records included data on blood lead levels and about 5,600 contained dental caries examination data. NHANES is the U.S. benchmark for the national surveillance of blood lead levels and is the sole national source of dental examination data. Following an at-home interview, participants visited a mobile exami- nation center where they donated a blood sample, completed a dietary interview and underwent a dental examination. An “elevated blood lead level” was defined as having at least three micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. “Tooth decay” was defined as the presence of one or more tooth surfaces that are affected by dental caries, as determined by dental examiners using a standard- ized protocol. According to the results of the study, children and adolescents who did not drink tap water (about 15 per- cent) were more likely than tap According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adding fluoride to water supply has dramatically reduced the prevalence of tooth decay over the past seventy years, but still tooth decay remains widespread. (Photograph: pixabay/jarmoruk) water drinkers to have tooth decay, but were less likely to have elevated blood lead levels. Those who drank tap water had a significantly higher prevalence of elevated blood lead levels than children who did not drink tap water. Overall, nearly 3 percent of children and adolescents had elevated blood lead levels and almost 50 percent had tooth decay. Among American children and adolescents, one in five living below the federal poverty lev- el, one in four African Americans and one in three Mexican Americans do not drink tap water—vastly exceed- ing the one in twelve non-Hispanic, white children who do not. “Elevated blood lead levels affect only a small minority of children, but the health consequences are pro- found and permanent,” explained Sanders. “On the other hand, tooth decay affects one in every two chil- dren, and its consequences, such as toothache, are immediate and costly to treat.” The study’s statistical analysis also took into account other factors that could account for the relationship between the non-consumption of tap water and blood lead levels and tooth decay. A limitation of the study was that the fluoridation sta- tus of the participants’ tap water was unknown, therefore the observa- tion that drinking tap water protects against tooth decay may be an un- derestimate of fluoride’s protective effect. “Our study draws attention to a critical trade-off for parents: children who drink tap water are more likely to have elevated blood lead levels, yet children who avoid tap water are more likely to have tooth decay,” commented Slade. “Community wa- ter fluoridation benefits all people, irrespective of their income or abil- ity to obtain routine dental care. Yet, we jeopardize this public good when people have any reason to believe their drinking water is unsafe.” Public awareness of the hazards of lead-contaminated water has in- creased since 2014, when concerns were raised after the drinking wa- ter source for Flint in Michigan was changed to the untreated Flint River. A federal state of emergency was declared and Flint residents were instructed to use only bottled or fil- tered water for drinking, cooking, cleaning and bathing. The study, titled “Blood lead levels and dental caries in U.S. children who do not drink tap water,” was published ahead of print online in November 2017. It will appear in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in February, 2018.