Topical oral syrup prevents early childhood cariesJuly 07, 2008Dental researchers at the University of Washington have reported a significant reduction of tooth decay in toddlers who were treated with the topical syrup xylitol, a naturally occurring non-cavity-causing sweetener. Their results were presented today during the 86th General Session of the International Association for Dental Research. In a recent clinical trial in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, children 6 to 15 months old were given oral doses of xylitol in fruit-flavored syrup daily to determine whether the substance can prevent early-childhood tooth decay, or "caries". Researchers reported that nearly 76% of the children in the group who received xylitol were free of tooth decay by the end of the study, compared with 48% of the children in the group that did not receive the substance. The Marshall Islands in the Pacific were chosen for the study because it is an area where childhood tooth decay is a serious public health problem. The average child entering Head Start at age 5 has 6.8 cavities-two to three times the rate in a typical mainland community. Researchers came from the Northwest/Alaska Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities and the Department of Dental Public Health Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. Xylitol can be administered in the form of chewing gum, lozenges, or syrup. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved xylitol's use in food since 1963 and classifies the substance as safe. According to researchers, at the end of the trial nearly 76% of the children in the study group were caries-free, compared with 48% in a comparable group that did not receive treatment. Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol that is used as a sugar substitute. International & American Association for Dental Research |
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| Related Tooth Decay Current Events and Tooth Decay News Articles Hybrid composite for root canal treatment Unrelenting toothache means a visit to the dentist is inevitable, and if the tooth decay is really bad root canal treatment is often the only option. Open wide and say 'zap' A group of researchers in Australia and Taiwan has developed a new way to analyze the health of human teeth using lasers. AADR releases its statement on oral health care within health care reform On July 14, the American Association for Dental Research released its policy statement titled "Oral Health Care within Health Care Reform," which focuses on the scientific base of oral health and its associations to other aspects of health. Dry Mouth Linked to Prescription and Over the Counter Drugs Approximately ninety-one percent of dentists say patients complaining about dry mouth are taking multiple medications, according to a nationwide member survey conducted by the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD). Diets bad for the teeth are also bad for the body Dental disease may be a wake-up call that your diet is harming your body. Sugar substitute appears to prevent early-childhood cavities Children given an oral syrup containing the naturally occurring sweetener xylitol may be less likely to develop decay in their baby teeth. OJ Worse for Teeth than Whitening, Says Eastman Institute for Oral Health Researchers With the increasing popularity of whitening one's teeth, researchers at the Eastman Institute for Oral Health, part of the University of Rochester Medical Center, set out to learn if there are negative effects on the tooth from using whitening products. Structural biology scores with protein snapshot In a landmark technical achievement, investigators in the Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology have used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods to determine the structure of the largest membrane-spanning protein to date. Newly discovered reactions from an old drug may lead to new antibiotics A mineral found at health food stores could be the key to developing a new line of antibiotics for bacteria that commonly cause diarrhea, tooth decay and, in some severe cases, death. Black girls are 50 percent more likely to be bulimic than white girls An important new study challenges the widespread perception that bulimia primarily affects privileged, white teenagers such as "Gossip Girl" character Blair Waldorf, who battled bulimia on the show earlier this season. More Tooth Decay Current Events and Tooth Decay News Articles |
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