Search

Based upon the present prevalence of root caries an attempt is taken to evaluate the future importance of this carious type. A population sample of 2,261 men and women aged 35 to 74 years were examined. The participation rate was 81%. Root caries was recorded when the lesion was obviously soft and located on cementum. The prevalence of root caries increased for both sexes almost consistently with age and ranged between 49 and 73%. In the mean 1.8 to 2.9 teeth were affected. Root caries was found more often among men than women. Over the sixth decades the reduction of the relative frequency of root caries was stated. Up to this age the rates of tooth extraction were higher than the rates of incidence. If it succeeded that in the future aged people will retain more teeth than nowadays a increase of root caries can be expected. more...

Sound and carious root surfaces of 24 extracted human teeth with extensive periodontal attachment loss were examined by SEM. The microflora covering the radicular surfaces was a complex flora consisting of filamentous and fusiform bacteria, short and long rods. Cocci and coccoid bacteria were observed on root surfaces. Bacterial invasion in the exposed peripheral root dentin was delayed by sclerotic dentin. more...

In a clinical microbiological study the microflora of cavity floors in 41 permanent teeth was investigated after several month of caries excavation and with or without Calxyl application on hard dentine prior sealing with zincphosphatecementum and amalgam. The cavity floors were only lowly infected. Actinomycetes or acidogenic and aciduric streptococci and lactobacilli dominated in the CFU. After application of Calxyl actinomycetes (A. israelii) were found 3-fold more frequently in the remaining population than streptococci (S. mutans) and lactobacilli. Without application of Calxyl their ratio was 1:1. S. mutans seems to be important for the carious progression in dentin. more...

A similar plaque inhibition by was found after daily topical application of CHX or AmF/SnF2 in comparison with a placebo on rats. The fluoride combination exhibited a significant caries protective influence which was equal to AmF when the last was used in the same concentration. More concentrated AmF has shown a higher caries reducing effect and higher fluoride accumulation in the enamel surface layer of teeth. AmF/SnF2 could been recommended to individual plaque control with parallel caries protective effect. more...

The possibility of influencing the eruptive behavior of deciduous teeth through the intake of fluorine is analyzed by comparing the average dates of eruption determined for several thousand subjects living in regions in which the drinking water has low and optimum contents of fluorine. more...

The investigations reported in this paper were conducted in Karl-Marx-Stadt after 16 years from the introduction of drinking water fluoridation (1.0 ppm F), with a total of 792 randomly selected juveniles (whose average age was 14.9 years) being examined. Serving as a control group were 780 juveniles of the same age (15.4 years). The control persons were from Leipzig (0.2 ppm F). Included in the comparison with metric occlusal traits, use being made in this connection of the method for measuring occlusal traits, which was recommended in 1973 by an F.D.I. commission (COCSTOC-MOT). Despite the considerable reduction of caries in the deciduous dentition and the change in the eruptive behavior of permanent teeth, which is of great importance of the development, of dentition, no systematic differences could be observed between the two groups of subjects. An improvement in the occlusal conditions could not, after consumption of drinking water with an optimum fluoride content, be convincingly demonstrated by means of the epidemiological method used in these investigations. more...

Instruction of six- and seven-year-old children (N = 1167) at the beginning of this longitudinal study was given by a stomatological nurse at weekly intervals and, later, at fortnightly and monthly intervals, respectively. Compared with a group of untreated controls were not only those children who were instructed in proper oral hygiene but children receiving additional doses of amine fluorides as well. During the seven-year period of observation there was noted a distinct improvement in oral hygiene (OHI) as well as a reduction of gingival inflammations (PM index). Whereas additional administration of amine fluorides had no appreciable effect upon both oral hygiene and the condition of health of the gingiva there was a direct relation to the frequency of instructions in oral hygiene at school. more...

The relationship between coronal and root caries was analyzed in a sample of 963 people aged 25 to 64 years. Subjects with root caries had fewer teeth, more teeth with untreated coronal caries, and more teeth which need conservative treatments and extractions than did people with no root caries. In the age older than 55 years those with root caries had more teeth in the average of 2.5 teeth for both sexes. The other parameters of dental health showed the same differences compared with younger subjects. more...

The regular examination of 20,000 children and juveniles aged 6 to 15 (permanent teeth) and some 12.500 three- to eight-year-olds (deciduous teeth) has shown that the incidence of dental caries (DMF/T and df/t indices) is directly dependent upon the constant fluoridation of drinking water (1.0 +/- 0.1 ppm F). The reduction in dental caries observed on both deciduous and permanent teeth as a result of twelve years of fluoridation of drinking water, which was started in Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1959, was followed, because of the necessity to temporarily discontinue the addition of fluorine salts to the drinking water, by a slight increase in caries which could be checked through refluorination. After eighteen years of fluoridation of drinking water, the situation can again be considered to be in equilibrium. The need for proper fluoridation and regular control thereof through analyzing the fluorine content of drinking water is pointed out. more...

The determination of anticarious effects of topically administered fluorine compounds is usually based on short-time cross-sectional or longitudinal studies. In a comparison made for a period of more than seven years the anticarious effects of amine fluorides administered to selected groups of test subjects have been studied under controlled clinical experimental conditions. more...

A total of 1612 seven- to sixteen-year-olds of both sexes were included in a study of which the purpose was to determine whether different concentrations of magnesium and calcium, respectively, in the drinking water (Ore Mountains) have any effects upon the mottling of the enamel of permanent incisors. It was not possible to determine an epidemiological relationship, but what could be reconfirmed was that the incidence and intensity of mottled teeth correspond with the drinking water fluorine level. more...

The question to which extent an unintended selection is linked with incorrect estimations of oral disease indicators by the readiness of subjects to participate is looked into within the framework of an epidemiological study. 896 primarily cooperative subjects and 70 originally noncooperative subjects aged from 25 to 64 years were examined. According to statistics, non-cooperative subjects were found to have more caries-infected teeth and less teeth filled. Generally, a smaller degree of dental care could be detected in these subjects, which should cause a critical discussion of the hitherto published parameters of oral diseases. more...

Cariostatistical comparisons made since the start of drinking-water fluoridation in Karl-Marx-Stadt suggested territorial differences in the prevalence of dental decay. In the present paper an attempt is made to analyse the problems involved, with due consideration being given to both demographic and ecological factors. more...

A increasing alveolar bone loss and typical root surface caries were reproduced after defined co-inoculation of germfree Wistar rats with S. mutans and A. viscosus. The gnotobiotic rats were re-conventionalized and performed a gingivectomy on the right upper jaw at the beginning of the 12 week experiment. more...

The prevalence of periodontal diseases has been determined by means of CPITN in 35- to 44-year-olds (N = 330) residing for more than 26 years in an F-optimized water area and compared with samples taken of people of the same age in 14 county towns of the German Democratic Republic (N = 1261) and also the Spremberg district (N = 1,116). A relation with the systemic availability of fluoride could neither be deduced from the frequency of calculus nor the prevalence of periodontitis. more...