All smiles as new product looks to have child tooth decay licked
RESEARCH by a county dental practice could "prove vital" in preventing thousands of children suffering from tooth decay, according to experts.
Sixty children who are patients at the Hafren Dental House Practice, in Alfreton, had a special sealant used on some of their permanent teeth before they came fully through.
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Patient Imogen Kelleher, 12, who had the treatment, with dental therapist Laura Rose Brady and Bhupinder Dawett, the lead dentist at the surgery. He now plans to ask the NIHR for more research to be done on the product.
This was because studies have shown that, if dentists wait until a tooth is fully through before applying a protective coating, the tooth is exposed to possible decay for longer.
But, since 2011, the Cressy Road's dental therapist – Laura Rose Brady – has applied this special sealant to the ridges and grooves of 172 teeth.
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And, during check-ups with each patient a year on, findings showed no tooth which was sealed went on to develop dental decay.
Miss Brady said: "We're delighted with the findings, which ultimately could protect thousands of people's teeth from serious decay and a lifetime of fillings and drillings.
"We're now looking at putting a proposal together to see if other NHS dental practices in Derbyshire would be interested in trialling the sealant – as these are potentially significant findings."
The practice completed the study with support from the universities of Nottingham and Sheffield, with Miss Brady chosen by the Colgate and the Oral and Dental Research Trust 2011 DCP award programme to carry out the research.
Dr Bhupinder Dawett, lead dentist at the surgery, said he now planned to put together a bid to National Institute for Health Research for more research to be done on the sealant – which is made by dental manufacturer GC Ltd.
He said the practice would approach others in the county to see if they would be interested in trialling the sealant, before aiming to submit the bid in the summer.
The role of the NIHR is to fund research and develop evidence which can then help health bodies make decisions at a national level.
Dr Dawett said: "These are exciting findings but more needs to be done to establish the effectiveness of the sealant.
"This product has been available for a while but we don't think it is used that often.
"The project was about getting the ball rolling to see if this product shows promise and it does. But we now need to do further work before we can definitely say it does make a difference."
Keith Mann, head of primary care for NHS Derbyshire County, said: "This has been an enormously successful project, led by a highly skilled team of professionals.
"I look forward to seeing if the trial's 100% success rate can be replicated in other studies as it could prove vital in combating child tooth decay."
Comments
by nadyali22
Friday, January 25 2013, 11:41AM
“It is encouraging to know that sealants can work to prevent tooth decay but in my opinion more needs to be done to prevent tooth decay. Not everybody can go and get sealants on their teeth, plus it doesn't offer a lifetime insurance against tooth decay. I think patients need to be informed about practical steps for prevention of tooth decay. It has been shown through various studies that tooth decay is caused by deficiency of vital nutrients like vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus and other minerals in our diet. Deficiencies of these minerals in our diet make teeth weak and susceptible to decay. My advice to all the people would be to eat healthy nutritious food which is rich in these components as these nutrients not only prevent tooth decay but also have the ability to cure and reverse tooth decay as well. I would also recommend this book "Cure tooth decay "by Ramiel Nagel in which the author has described the causes of tooth decay in detail and have given an effective nutritional program which will help people in treating and reversing their cavities and tooth decays. Many people have benefited from this program. You can also visit this website for more information http://tinyurl.com/6pzwoje”