Fogorvosi szemle, 2004 (97. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
2004-02-01 / 1. szám
54 FOGORVOSI SZEMLE ■ 97. évf. 1. sz. 2004. dren and adolescents, the use of risk-strategy in caries prevention has been strongly questioned, as no additional improvement of dental health has been found using intensified prevention in comparison with broad-scale basic prevention [Hausen et al. 2000, Hausen 2003]. Instead, targeting prevention, for instance at age cohorts with erupting teeth has been suggested. Also parents of infants and toddlers in areas with high caries prevalence may be considered ideal for oral health education. In young children, early mutant streptococci colonization, incipient caries lesions, plaque accumulation, as well as some socio-demographic factors have been shown to be strongly associated with early development of caries. For screening purposes, these results have been more promising than in schoolchildren. In Finland, in a population with low caries prevalence, we planned and evaluated a caries screening and prevention program for young children (Pienihäkkinen and Jokela 2002; Jokela and Pienihäkkinen 2003). The screening was based on the presence of mutant streptococci and incipient caries lesions and resulted in three risk categories: low, intermediate, and high risk. The prevention given was proportional to the estimated risk. Dental assistants or hygienists within the public dental health care system carried out the program successfully. The program improved dental health and reduced costs during the 3-year follow-up. RISK ASSESSMENT BASED ON MEDICAL HISTORY RIGÓ Orsolya Procter&Gamble Blend-a-med Research, Budapest, Hungary Professionals increasingly recommend that the population should get “needs related” health care, including prevention. Therefore, it would be appropriate to carry out general and oral health risk assessment for all newly registered patients. The recently completed European Medical Risk Related History (EMRRH) questionnaire helps to determine the general medical risk of dental treatment in the practice. The self-administered and easy to complete EMRRH questionnaire may be evaluated by the dentist immediately and helps to prevent unexpected, occasionally life threatening general complications that might present during dental treatment in patients. Dentist’s awareness of the patients’ general medical condition is a strong motivation for improved oral health care, as well as for appropriate preventive care. GASTROESOPHAGEAL REFLUX DISEASE (GERD) AS A POSSIBLE ENDOGENOUS PATHOGENETICAL FACTOR OF DENTAL EROSION SIMON László “Balassa János” Tolna County Teaching Hospital, Szekszárd, Hungary Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common symptom-complex in the civilized world, including erosive reflux esophagitis (ERD) or defined as typical or supraesophageal (atypical) GERD symptoms and complications without visible endoscopical- macroscopical esophageal injuries (NERD). Dentists are often the first health care professionals to diagnose a systemic disease through observation of its oral manifestations. Extra-esophageal manifestations of GERD are common (non-cardiac chest pain, chronic cough and hoarseness, different respiratory and oto-rhyno-laringeal symptoms, etc.). Acidic environment in the mouth due to GERD- related regurgitation of gastric juice may involve the soft mucosal and the hard tooth structures as well, reaching a value below the critical pH (5.5) of dental enamel, and causing potentially non-bacterial dental erosions. GERD - from clinical gastroenterological points of view - is one of the most serious therapeutic problems, impairing significantly the quality of life of the patients. Initiations to resolving these problems missed sufficient collaboration between dentists and gastroenterologists, so far. Reasons of that were bilateral: lack of the knowledge from one hand, and underrating of the importance of dental symptoms, on the other. For improvement of this situation an interdisciplinary approach would be needed: first the recognition and acceptance of the correlations in the family physician and dentist settings, followed by an excellent cooperation with expert gastroenterologist for assessment and medical care of the underlying disease. XYLITOL PREVENTS TRANSMISSION OF MUTANS STREPTOCOCCI SÖDERLING Eva Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland The objective of the study was to compare xylitol (X) consumption of mothers with chlorhexidine (CHX) and flu-
