The dental caries status and dental treatment patterns of 12-year-old children in Hong Kong

A randomly selected sample of 662 12-year-old Hong Kong children, 529 of whom were Southern Chinese and 133 non-Chinese, was clinically examined for dental caries. The DMFT values were 2.76 and 1.66 for the Chinese and non-Chinese children, respectively. The D component for the Chinese children was 2.12, while for the non-Chinese children it was only 0.45. Approximately 24.0% of the Chinese children had attended the dentist because they were in pain. Only 3.8% of the Chinese children had sought orthodontic or preventive treatment, compared with 24.0% of the non-Chinese children. Although these findings indicate the caries experience to be well below the FDI/WHO global goal for the year 2000, there is a great need to increase the level of dental awareness among Chinese children.     

Concentration of fluoride and selected other elements in teas

Infusions made from 15 Chinese, 11 Ceylon/Indian and 6 herb teas (1 g/100 ml deionized water at 85 degrees C) were analyzed for F, P, Ca, Al, Mg, Mn and Zn. Chinese teas continued to release F throughout the first hour of infusion, whereas release of F from Ceylon/Indian teas was essentially completed after 5 minutes. After a 15-minute infusion, the mean F concentration in Chinese teas was 1.73 ppm, and in Ceylon/Indian teas it was 1.24 ppm. Herb teas contained a negligible amount of F (0.02-0.05 ppm). Phosphorus and Mg were the most abundant of the other elements with an average of 12.5 and 9.1 ppm, respectively. A high correlation (r = 0.81) was found between the released F and Al. The total F content in tea leaves ranged from 82 to 371 ppm. The addition of milk to tea infusions did not appreciably reduce the F concentration. The estimated daily F intake from tea infusion made with fluoridated water at 0.7 ppm is 1.05 mg.     

Signs of oral dryness in relation to salivary flow rate,pH, buffering capacity and dry mouth complaints

Background  

This study aimed to investigate the signs of oral dryness in relation to different salivary variables and to correlate subjective complaints of oral dryness with salivary flow rate.