International Nutrition Surveys: A Summary of Preliminary Dental Findings

¹ National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service, Bethesda, Maryland

Examiners from our research group have surveyed more than 21,000 persons in Alaska, Ethiopia, Ecuador, South Vietnam, Chile, Colombia, Thailand, and Lebanon. Among the principal preliminary findings were the following: (1) The prevalence of dental caries was very low in some populations with grave nutritional deficiencies. (2) Dental caries was inhibited whatever fluoride ingestion was optimal or mildly excessive. In some areas optimal fluoride effects seemed associated with domestic waters carrying less than 1.0 ppm fluoride. (3) Most of the variance in periodontal disease scores was associated with faulty oral hygiene and age. (4) Populations with high scores for periodontal disease tended to be deficient in vitamin A. No association between periodontal disease and ascorbic acid could be demonstrated.

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