11 ms·
School dental program prevents 80% of cavities with non-invasive treatment
- Spooky23 4y ago[flagged]
- sitkack 4y agoThis has been "known" for 30 years. It needs to be mandatory.
- umvi 4y agoMy brother is a dentist and he says the main drawback of SDF is that it looks bad. It indeed stops the decay but turns the tooth (or part of the tooth) black.
- dwheeler 4y agoIt doesn't stain healthy enamel, but it does permanently stain parts with cavitation: https://www.sproutpediatricdentistry.com/blog/pediatric-dentistry/silver-diamine-fluoride/#:~:text=Tooth%20staining%3A%20When%20the%20silver,does%20not%20stain%20healthy%20enamel https://www.sproutpediatricdentistry.com/blog/pediatric-dent....
- kranke155 4y ago!! I wouldn’t mind
- derwiki 4y agoMy (dental hygienist) mother insisted that I get a sealant on my teeth when my permanent teeth came in, and to this day I’ve never had a cavity. Definitely doing the same for my kids.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- roundandround 4y agoI always wondered why the topic of sealants was always related to children and figured it was somehow only appropriate for teeth with an approaching end date. Are there any issues such as needing to reapply it every X years?
- Semaphor 4y agoNever heard of dental sealants before this. But from a cursory search, you can only use it on clean teeth, so no fillings or cavities.
- wbl 4y agoAs you get older your teeth have worn smoother so the pits being filled are less serious. I did have a failed sealant result in a compositing of the surface of one of my teeth.
- 4gotunameagain 4y agoSome sealants contain BPA derivatives though. I'd rather have cavities than xenoestrogens messing up my hormonal system, so any non resin sealant is a great step forward
- kranke155 4y agoSo what sealants are good/best ?
- 4gotunameagain 4y ago
- dzink 4y agoYes it works, but the part they don’t mention is that the treatment is black as black gets. You have to be very careful about where it goes, or it can affect the self-confidence or the kids, and possibly exacerbate bullying.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- technocratius 4y agoThere's a case report [0] where they were able to reverse the staining with a potassium idiode treatment, might be a potential solution in the future. [0] https://meridian.allenpress.com/operative-dentistry/article-pdf/44/3/221/2459634/17-266-s.pdf https://meridian.allenpress.com/operative-dentistry/article-...
- AgentOrange1234 4y agoSounds awesome. I’ve never heard of this before, but from some quick googling it looks like there are some pediatric dentists around who already offer it. Are there other important new preventive measures to know about?
- dukeofdoom 4y agoPoor Dental health has been linked to heart attacks. Also root canal is like pathway for bacteria to enter blood stream and cause life long source of inflammation. Potential benefits to humanity woud be so big. Even if it stained teeth would be worth it.
- technocratius 4y agoSounds interesting, if you don't have caries in visible parts of your teeth! I did a quick search and it's apparently also an effective treatment for adults: "According to an umbrella review, application of 38% SDF prevented root caries in adults with success rates 72% higher than a placebo treatment. The same review reported a prevented fraction for successful root caries arrest, between 100% and 725% higher as compared to a placebo treatment.21 Moreover, application of 38% SDF in combination with oral health education was found to be the most effective method for preventing root caries in adults."[0] [0] https://www.ada.org/resources/research/science-and-research-institute/oral-health-topics/silver-diamine-fluoride https://www.ada.org/resources/research/science-and-research-...
- petra 4y agoInteresting. Thank you! Btw why aren't dental sealants a good treatment for adults ?
- Loic 4y agoI asked my dentist last year. She told me that old teeths have microfisures and to seal she would have to first remove too much of the teeths to clean out these fisures before sealing. Maybe your dentist can tell you more.
- giantg2 4y agoMy teeth naturally have deep pits and fissures. I had sealant and still got some cavities. I wonder if that affected its success.
- cloverich 4y agoDepends a bit on the person but I had new sealants placed when I was 25.
- bailoon 4y agoIs there any company working on "cloning" or growing teeth? That way we don't have to worry about cavities or root canal any longer? When I was a kid, I was sure we'd have this tech by now. How hard is it to grow teeth?
- dazc 4y agoGood oral hygiene is all that is needed, and (in the UK, at least) we've been mostly failing at this basic level of common sense prevention for eternity. I guess it's the same for dieting, people looking for magic solutions when the simple answer is to eat less.
- taeric 4y agoBetween people looking for magic solutions and other people deriding the masses for being lazy... yeah, not much room left in the field for learning and growth. I do agree there is something to pushing for a bit more hygiene for things. That said, I also think there is something to be said for looking at the items holistically. To wit, I'm not brushing my pet's teeth every night, and I have yet to ever have one that needed intervention due to cavities. Especially not in mid life. I know some folks that have, of course. So, it isn't like it is completely unheard of in the animal kingdom. I'm curious why it is so different for us, though. Would love to see a good treatment of that topic.
- dazc 4y agoI'm sure you already know that your pets don't consume much sugar and that's the main reason they don't get cavities? Maybe humans will, eventually, evolve to a state where our teeth renew themselves naturally, without intervention? Who knows?
- taeric 4y agoI mean, you aren't wrong. They also eat a lot of really hard to chew things that scrape at their teeth and gums. And, I'm sure, breeding selected for pets that don't have massive teeth problems. That is, I get it, very complex topic. You can see other similar "patterns" that are of little help in the animal kingdom. See a "fat" animal, and it is almost certainly one that doesn't eat meat as a primary nutrient source. Similarly, lean animals are typically predators. Would be a fallacy to think you have to be a meat eater to be lean, though. The topic that has been intriguing to me lately, is the link between mouth breathing and poor oral health. So many topics that we don't know nearly as much about as we want individually. Much less all mixed up together.
- oifjsidjf 4y agoIf you read Weston Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration you will see that many tribes have PERFECT teeth without even flossing. Tooth decay is purely caused by diet. Certain grains also cause it, not only sugar. Rice for example is very bad for teeth (90% of people damaged teeth, acidic starch is what they assume), while potatoes are much less harmful (~10% if I remember correctly, since potato starch is alkaline). Sodas (anything with low ph) is terrible for the teeths as it seems. So it's also not "just carbs", but there are other factors. So "painting teeth" with dubious chemicals is moronic since the problem is the food. If the food destroys your teeth so much, think what it does on the inside of you which you cannot see. Eg check out this study: TOOTH DECAY IN RELATION TO DIET AND GENERAL HEALTH NILS P. LARSEN, M.D
- Broken_Hippo 4y agoYou still need this stuff while people's diets change, though - diets generally have a good amount of cultural, religious, and family ties and it takes time. Then there is the entire issue of trying to change the diets of poor people at a time when places (like the US) aren't even making sure the folks at the bottom can get enough calories and nutrients nor are we making sure diabetics and others have a diet fit for them, let alone trying to make sure folks aren't eating badly for their teeth. And I'm sure I'm not considering things like changing the crops being planted and things like that. But we have this stuff, perhaps. It isn't moronic considering we probably aren't going to change diets suddenly.
- anon84873628 4y agoYeah but maybe unwinding 10,000 years of agriculture isn't very feasible.
- gregwebs 4y agoPrice didn't believe that carbs or grains caused tooth decay: he prescribed freshly ground grains for the diet. Price's book is compelling evidence that something in modern societies causes tooth decay, which is unnatural. Price's hypothesis was that it was caused by the change to the modern diet and its lack of nutrients. So white flour bad, freshly ground whole grain good. Refined sugar, which Americans still eat ~80 pounds of a year creates a nutritional deficit that is hard to over come since the rest of our diet is not nutrient dense.
- neilv 4y ago> The study included 2,998 children in kindergarten through third grade at 47 New York City schools. The schools—which serve a racially diverse group of students, most of whom are from low-income families—were randomized to receive either the simple or complex treatment. Was this selection because some low-income families need this kind of treatment more than affluent ones? Or represent a diversity of racial backgrounds against which the treatment can be better tested? Was it a factor that they were cheap subjects? Or maybe unlikely to know any lawyers? As a kid, our (modest, Catholic) grade school participated in a lengthy toothpaste study. The incentive, AFAIK, was you got free toothpaste for your family (and I seem to recall some free toothbrushes). As an adult now, aware of some history and societal dynamics, if I ever have kids, and they came home with an experiment subject consent form, one of the questions on my mind would be "Are the children of the wealthy and connected also in this subject cohort?"
- PaulHoule 4y agoI am sure there is some study somewhere that samples rich people rather than others.
- jonahbenton 4y agoI don't know anything about this study, but am a lifelong NYC resident whose kids have gone through the public school system and who also has been directly involved as a "parent leader" in some DOE programs. With some confidence I posit the answers to the questions are a) very much yes b) yes c) n/a d) no. NYC DOE is an incredible organization that serves both the extremely wealthy and the extremely needy. There are schools where the majority of families are millionaires and the quality of the education and attention is competitive with $50k/year private schools. But there is much, much more pervasive need. Some estimates put 1/10 of the total attending population as homeless. 70% of the attending population are on some form of financial assistance. The range of services the DOE offers are astonishing. For various reasons they do NOT include anything that constitutes medical care, but they will regularly run studies that involve making medical resources available or provide some medical intervention. The needs in some areas are so great. As an efficient deliverer of in person services, there is no better organization than the DOE. It is very likely that most of the students in this study have never been- and never would otherwise be- to a dentist. They very likely get 1-2 meals a day from their school year round. They in many cases spend more waking hours in their school than at home. High poverty classrooms can be chaotic, but they often are much less chaotic than whatever home is. Consent was collected, to be sure- DOE is extremely careful about this. DOE legal is extremely aggressive because they are often sued- mostly by students of means but also by advocacy organizations, of which there are many. Very likely NYU was offered the option of where to do the study. They could have picked the Upper East Side or Tribeca- wealthy neighborhoods where kids will regularly attend boutique dental practices- but then what would they learn? The kids there are already getting sealants and so forth.
- zackees 4y ago[dead]
- cfeduke 4y agoIn elementary school in the 80s in upstate New York we had some sort of tooth treatment provided in the classroom, and it seemed like sort of a big deal at the time. Until recently I thought it was just a national program, until my wife told me she never had anything like it growing up in Rhode Island. Anecdotally I've had pretty good teeth my whole life and as far as I know, my friends from school have as well. Let's just say my wife is presently losing at Redneck Life (where the final score is number of teeth you still have at the conclusion of the game). :) its certainly not this treatment, since my treatment was like 30+ years ago, but it was a treatment
- hgsgm 4y agoTitlegore > Silver diamine fluoride, as well as sealants, protected against cavities
- jupp0r 4y ago"kept 50% of cavities from worsening when children were seen two years later." Wait, they let kids run around for two years with untreated cavities?
- giardini 4y agoAnd take vitamin K2 for your teeth (and bones and arteries).
- jononomo 4y ago[flagged]