Prevention Task Force Backs Fluoridation, Sealants

An oral health report issued in July by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services strongly recommends school-based dental sealant programs and community water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, particularly among low-income families without private dental care and families who are at highest risk for oral health problems.

The task force is a 15-member non-federal group of health experts convened by the Department of Health and Human Services and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its role is to address a variety of topics important to communities, public health agencies, and health care systems.

"Two community-based interventions, applying dental sealants in a school setting and fluoridating drinking water, are both beneficial as well as equitable in preventing tooth decay among our most vulnerable populations," said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH. "If more communities would implement these programs, we could save many children from needless pain and suffering and save the nation millions of dollars in dental care costs."

According to the CDC, costs to treat severe cases of tooth decay for some children can be as high as $2,000 per child.

In examining the effectiveness of school-based dental sealant programs, the task force found that there was typically a 60 percent decrease in tooth decay on the occlusal surfaces of posterior teeth after sealant application. Currently, only 23 percent of 8-year-old children in the United States have dental sealants. The prevalence is far lower for children who may have a higher decay risk; only 3 percent of low-income children and only 11 percent of African-American children have received a dental sealant.

Another key finding of the task force was the overall benefit of community water fluoridation in preventing tooth decay. The fluoridation process, which involves the adjustment of the natural fluoride level in a community’s water system to the optimal level of about 1 part per million, has been shown to be a safe, effective, and inexpensive measure in preventing tooth decay. Tooth decay typically decreased by 30 percent to 50 percent after starting or continuing water fluoridation. These decreases were seen in communities with varying levels of decay and among children of all socioeconomic levels. Although community water fluoridation was introduced more than 50 years ago, about 100 million Americans still do not have fluoride in their drinking water.

While largely preventable, tooth decay continues to affect the majority of Americans, with many in low-income and certain ethnic and racial groups experiencing higher rates of decay. By age 5, 60 percent of all children have had tooth decay, and more than 80 percent of 18-year-olds have experienced decay. Much of the caries in children remains untreated. Among 6- to 8-year-olds, 43 percent of Hispanic children, 36 percent of African-American children, and 26 percent of white children have untreated tooth decay.

"There is considerable opportunity for communities to increase their use of these proven measures to decrease tooth decay for both children and adults," said William Maas, DDS, who directs CDC’s oral health program. "At CDC, we recently made cooperative agreement awards to several states to develop additional school sealant programs and to promote adoption of water fluoridation in communities."

The supplement "Interventions to Prevent Dental Caries, Oral and Pharyngeal Cancers, and Sports-Related Craniofacial Injuries: Systematic Reviews of Evidence, Recommendations from the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, and Expert Commentary" is available on the Community Guide’s Web site, www.thecommunityguide.org/oral/.

New Book Addresses Abuse and Neglect Issues

A new book is available to help health care professionals learn to create a system for preventing, identifying, and dealing with abuse and neglect.

Joint Commission Resources has released How to Recognize Abuse and Neglect, which offers an overview of abuse and neglect issues, including common myths and misconceptions, statistics, relevant Joint Commission standards, strategies, and resources.

How to Recognize Abuse and Neglect offers real-life examples, strategies, and case studies to help health care professionals deal with abuse and neglect issues.

The book is designed for a broad spectrum of health care settings, including hospitals and ambulatory, long-term care, assisted living, behavioral health, home care, and foster care organizations.

CDA member Kathleen A. Shanel-Hogan, DDS, MA, contributed a section titled "Using Oral Indicators to Detect Abuse and Neglect."

Joint Commission Resources is a subsidiary of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

How to Recognize Abuse and Neglect is available for $55 using order code RAN-100, by calling the Joint Commission Customer Service Center at (630) 792-5800 or by visiting Joint Commission Resource’s Web site at www.jcrinc.com/.

Children’s Books Can Ease Dental Anxiety

Making a child comfortable during his or her first few visits to the dentist can build a positive attitude about dental care that can last a lifetime.

Publisher Simon & Schuster has released a variety of children’s dental-themed books that parents and dental practitioners can use to lessen a child’s anxiety about the experience.

* Little Bill: A Visit to the Dentist is based on a TV series created by comedian and educator Bill Cosby. The book shows Little Bill going to the dentist and helping a little girl who is scared because it is her first time at the dental office.

* Dear Tooth Fairy: The True Story of How the Tooth Fairy Came to Be shows how the fairies that watch over the Land of Humans decided that children should have two sets of teeth: one to practice on and one to keep. When the first ones fall out, the Tooth Fairy gives gifts to children who leave teeth under their pillows.

* The Tooth Fairies Nighttime Visit is a rhyming book that shows tooth fairies on their nightly rounds of gathering teeth and includes two pages of fairy stickers.

These books are available at Simon and Schuster’s Web site www.simonandschuster.com or can be ordered from any book store.

Huge Improvements Made In Americans' Health During Past 50 Years

Men and women are living longer, fewer babies are dying in infancy, and the gap between white and black life expectancy has been narrowing in the past decade, according to a recent report showing how Americans' health has dramatically improved during the past 50 years.

"Effective public health efforts, greater knowledge among Americans about healthier lifestyles and improved health care all have contributed to these steady gains in the nation’s health," CDC Director Julie L. Gerberding, MD, said.

By 2000, infant mortality had dropped to a record low and life expectancy hit a record high, according to Health, United States, 2002, the 26th annual statistical report on the nation’s health prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The country has gained significant ground in fighting heart disease, stroke and injuries. AIDS emerged as a major killer in the 1980s, but deaths dropped after 1995 due to powerful new antiviral drugs. However, new AIDS cases are still being reported -- about 40,000 cases in 2000.

Among the key findings of the report:

* During the past half century, death rates among children and adults up to age 24 were cut in half. Mortality among adults 25-64 fell nearly as much, and dropped among those 65 and older by a third.

* In 2000, Americans enjoyed the longest life expectancy in U.S. history -- almost 77 years, based on preliminary figures. The life expectancy of men was 74 and for women almost 80. A century earlier, life expectancy was 48 for men and 51 for women.

* The infant mortality rate -- deaths before the first birthday -- has plummeted 75 percent since 1950. It dropped to a record low of 6.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000, down from 7.1 the year before.

* Men and women who reach age 65 now live, on average, to age 81 and 84 respectively.

* The gap in life expectancy between blacks and whites narrowed during the 1990s. The life expectancy of white babies was about six years longer than for black babies in 2000, an improvement from the seven-year gap in 1990.

* Homicide rates among young black and Hispanic males aged 15-24 dropped almost 50 percent in the 1990s. Homicide remains the leading cause of death for young black men and the second leading cause of death for young Hispanic men.

UCSF School Of Dentistry Receives $1.3 Million

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced a grant of $1,345,320 over five years to the University of California at San Francisco School of Dentistry to improve access to dental care and increase student enrollment numbers of underrepresented minority and low-income students.

The grant is one of 10 given to national dental schools through the foundation’s Pipeline Profession & Practice: Community-Based Education initiative. The initiative is designed to counteract the "silent epidemic" of oral disease affecting poor children, the elderly, and many members of racial and ethnic minorities that was outlined in the May 2000 Surgeon General’s Report on the Oral Health of the Nation.

"These dental schools will work to reduce gaps in care through community-based education programs that expand patient care to underserved patients," said Judith Stavisky, senior program officer at the foundation.

California presents a challenge in the "silent epidemic" because the state's immigrant and pediatric populations are significantly larger than the national average, and there is a disproportionate number of underserved populations in the state, according to William F. Bird, DDS, DPH, UCSF clinical professor of preventive and restorative dental sciences and principal investigator of the grant.

The crisis also has a geographic dimension across the state. Sixteen of California's 58 counties have been declared as underserved by virtue of their underutilization of Denti-Cal.

50,000 Smokers Needed For National Lung Screening Trial

The National Cancer Institute has launched a new study to determine if screening people with either spiral computerized tomography or chest X-ray before they have symptoms can reduce deaths from lung cancer.

The National Lung Screening Trial will enroll 50,000 current or former smokers and will take place at 30 sites throughout the United States.

Participants in the trial will receive lung cancer screenings free of charge. Men and women can participate if they meet the following requirements:

* Are current or former smokers ages 55 to 74;

* Have never had lung cancer and have not had any cancer within the past five years (except some skin cancers or in situ cancers);

* Are not currently enrolled in any other cancer screening or cancer prevention trial; and

* Have not had a CT scan of the chest or lungs within the past 18 months.

For more information about trial and to find the nearest center:

* Call the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service toll-free, at (800) 4-CANCER (422-6237) for information in English or Spanish. The number for callers with TTY equipment is (800) 332-8615.

* Log on to cancer.gov/NLST.

National Library of Medicine Consumer Site Launches a Spanish Version

MEDLINEplus, the National Library of Medicine’s consumer-friendly health Web site, now speaks Spanish. The new site is at medlineplus.gov/esp.

Recent surveys show more than 50 percent of adult Hispanics in the United States use the Internet. More than half of those, in fact, look to the Web for medical and health information. In response to this, the National Library of Medicine is introducing its popular consumer health information Web site, MEDLINEplus, in Spanish. Now users will find many of the authoritative, full-text resources that are available on MEDLINEplus en Español, too.

MEDLINEplus, available free of charge 24 hours a day, debuted in October 1998. Today the site has more than 560 health topics and receives over 1 million visitors per month.

OSAP Launches New FAQ Database

For years, the Organization for Safety and Asepsis Procedures has been fielding questions from frontline dental workers. To allow 24-hour access to this valuable information, OSAP has compiled those questions along with expert answers in a new FAQ section.

The searchable database, posted at http://www.osap.org/resources/FAQ/index.php, categorizes questions into broad categories such as diseases and disease agents, equipment, latex allergies, office design and management, safety, personal protective equipment, and regulatory processes. Subcategories include disinfection, sterilization, handpieces, instrument processing, sharps safety, dental unit waterlines, waste management, state requirements, and X-ray safety.

OSAP will be constantly updating its database to provide dental workers with the answers to their most pressing questions.

Honors

The Pacific Coast Society for Prosthodontics has elected the following California dentist to office for 2002-2003:

Paul P. Binon, DDS -- president-elect

Madeline E. Kurrasch, DDS -- vice president

Arun B. Sharma, BDS -- secretary-treasurer

Shane N. White, BDS -- organization editor

Upcoming Meetings

2002

Nov. 2 Association of Managed Care Dentists, Los Angeles, (310) 453-3439, www.amcd.org.

Nov. 3-9 United States Dental Tennis Association Annual Meeting, Palm Desert, Calif., (800) 445-2524.

Nov. 6-9, American College of Prosthodontists’ Annual Session, Orlando, (312) 573-1260.

Nov. 7-9, Excellence in Dentistry, Las Vegas, (800) 337-8467.

2003

March 5-8 Academy of Laser Dentistry 10th Annual Conference and Exhibition, Destin, Fla., (954) 346-3776, www.laserdentistry.org.

April 24-27 CDA Spring Scientific Session, Anaheim, Calif., (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470.

April 29-May 4 19th Annual American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Scientific Session, Orlando, Fla., (800) 543-9220, www.aacd.com.

June 19-22 OSAP 2003 Symposium, Tucson, Ariz., 800-298-OSAP.

Oct. 25-29, ADA Annual Session, San Francisco, (312) 440-2500.

2004

April 15-18 CDA Spring Scientific Session, Anaheim, Calif., (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470.

Sept. 8-11 International Federation of Endodontic Associations Sixth Endodontic World Congress, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, www.ifea2004.im.com.au.

Sept. 10-12 CDA Fall Scientific Session, San Francisco, (916) 443-3382, Ext. 4470.

Sept. 30-Oct. 3 ADA Annual Session, Orlando, Fla., (312) 440-2500.

To have a meeting included on this list, please send the information to Upcoming Meetings, CDA Journal, P.O. Box 13749, Sacramento, CA 95853 or fax the information to (916) 443-2943.