Effects Of Oral Health In Ireland

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Oral health education and promotion:
There have undoubtedly been changes in Ireland with regards to education on oral health and overall health in general since the 1960s. People have become more aware of the effects of diet on oral health as well as smoking.
Education on the detrimental effects of smoking on both physical and oral health since the late 1900’s has had a huge impact on the number of young smokers in Ireland. The percentage of children aged 10-17 in Ireland who report never smoking has increased from 50.8% in 1998 to 73.5% in 2010 according to the Department of Children and Youth affairs (2). This is possibly attributed to some of the changes in smoking legislation and views towards smoking since then with the help of Action …show more content…

The fluoridated water supply was initially provided at a concentration of 1ppm. In the 1990s, a further decrease in the incidence of caries levels among school-aged children was reported since 1984. “The decline in caries levels in the permanent teeth of 8-, 12- and 15- year-olds has continued into the 1990s for both those with and without water fluoridation” as stated by the North survey of Children’s Oral Health 2002 (9). Figure 5 from the report on Dental caries and enamel fluorosis among the fluoridated population in the Republic of Ireland and non-fluoridated population in Northern Ireland in 2002 outlines the changes in DMFT between 1960 and 2002 …show more content…

Dentists have changed their approach to treatment of children and adolescents in that they are less inclined to immediately start drilling teeth and instead, adopt more preventative methods. The use of fissure sealants is becoming more popular and is also showing positive results. They are plastic adhesive resins used on the occlusal surfaces of teeth, most often the molar teeth, due to a high caries risk. They help to prevent the accumulation of plaque in the pits and fissures of the teeth. It is, therefore, advised that fissure sealants be applied for at risk children between the ages of 6-6.5 years (roughly the time of eruption of first permanent molars) and between the ages of 11-12.5 years (roughly the time of eruption of second permanent molars) (12).
There is a higher prevalence of fissure sealant placement in the ROI among 8-, 12- and 15-year- olds with 47%, 70% and 69% having at least one fissure sealant respectively in 2002 (9). Evaluation of the effectiveness of fissure sealants was conducted in 1999 by one survey in County Meath which found that, approximately two years after application, caries experience on previously sealed teeth was low (2.9%). Children who had all four first permanent molars sealed had significantly less caries compared to children who had no first molars sealed (mean DMFT 0.33 vs. 0.7, p<0.0001)

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