Fluoride Addition to Milk and Its Effect on Dental Caries in School Children

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Abstract
In a pilot study, the effect on dental caries of milk as a vehicle for fluoride administration was determined in young children in a school lunch program over approximately a four-year period. A half pint of fluoridated milk supplying 1 mg. of fluoride ion in the form of sodium fluoride was given to young children, initial ages six to nine years in grades 1 through 4. Two groups of children, a treated and control group, from two neighboring schools initially involving 171 children (approximately twenty per age level per group) were selected for this study. Local dentists, under the supervision of the project dentist, examined the children clinically and roentgenographically during the study. Examinations were conducted each year during the administration of fluoridated milk, and also eighteen months after cessation of fluoridated milk ingestion. At the end of three and a half years of ingestion of fluoridated milk, a significant reduction of approximately 70 per cent in caries incidence of teeth erupting since the initiation of the experiment (first and second bicuspids and second molars) was obtained for the treated group (sixty-five children) as compared to the control group (sixty-four children). Eighteen months after cessation of fluoride ingestion, a significant difference of approximately 50 per cent in caries rate was retained in favor of the treated group; also, a significant reduction in caries increment for the treated group during this interval indicated a carry-over effect for the fluoridated milk. There was also an indication that fluoridated milk administration appears to be of value in reducing caries rate in newly-erupted first molars. This study again demonstrates that the ingestion of a recommended level of fluoride ion during calcification of teeth and prior to eruption is of value in increased resistance to dental caries.

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