Eastern Regional Access Television

Even with the benefit of fluoridation, dental health education, oral hygiene and world class dental professionals, tooth decay is still the most common disease in Australia with the economic impact of heart disease and diabetes.
· Over 11 million Australians suffer new decay each year
· Four-fold increase in decay between 12 and 21. It may take many years to develop some cavities.
· Over 38% of Australians have untreated decay
· $3.7 billion was spent on dental services in the year 2001-02.
· Most countries especially developing countries, have much more tooth decay than Australia.

Advising consumers to avoid cariogenic foods, can help decrease acid demineralization but few consumers heed this advice, sugar consumption is still increasing and fluoride toothpaste has no access between teeth nor inside pits and fissures where almost all cavities occur.

Plaque bacteria Photo1. that change carbohydrate like sugar to acid, are easy to see at gum margins on tooth surfaces with red food dye. Even with poor oral hygiene few cavities occur here Photo2. where the brush, toothpaste and saliva have easy access to remove food, reduce resident plaque, neutralize acid and remineralise demineralised tooth.

Most food is trapped between teeth, yet sufficient carbohydrate is trapped inside pits and fissures Photo3 in chewing surfaces to cause over 80% of cavities occur in back teeth where acid demineralization results from food left trapped under chewing pressure and where the brush and fluoride toothpaste cannot reach. www.ndk.biz/red

Dentists halt the progression of tooth decay and potential cavities with expensive fillings and fissure sealants that prevent food being trapped and changed to acid demineralisation. This new research how chewing carbohydrate free food that is trapped and hard to displace, can largely prevent meals or snacks causing demtooth decay even for indigenous communities.

The Supertooth Photo6. project experiments include a simple glass model of 4 fissures in a tooth separated by an X Photo4. Each partition replicates how chewing forces food between teeth and inside pits and fissures as seen when chewing barium sulphate that displaces previously trapped food where the brush cannot reach as seen in x-rays. Photo5. www.ndk.biz/red Foods like nuts and confection are hard to displace. This suggests never finish eating with carbohydrate rich foods like confection.

Chewing nuts or special sugarless confection before eating can act like fissure sealants, preventing meals or snacks being trapped. Chewing the confection after eating can displace any trapped meal or snack that may be cariogenic. Chewing celery after eating helps saliva dilute trapped sugar, neutralize acid and remineralise tooth. Chewing could also force fluoride toothpaste inside pits and fissures before brushing.

The project will identify how any community can make low cost sugarless foods, confection or type of chewy toothpaste that is easy and convenient to chew before and after eating or before brushing, that can displace previously trapped food and that is itself hard to displace as seen in glass models of a fissure or barium sulphate x-rays.

This research may convince Governments to provide incentives for confection, oral hygiene and food industries. even in developing countries, to develop a sugarless sealant confection type foods to chew before and after eating. Also a means of chewing toothpaste before brushing to force fluoride inside pits and fissures. The project can even help indigenous communities to find or grow plants like celery to chew after eating to help saliva neutralize acid and remineralise demineralised tooth.

Supertooth Photo6. has brand power potential that could develop into a global dental health education project that with the Good Food Friends can be developed to provide simple, better evidence based dental health education and personal tooth care resources, so important to help communities develop skills to prevent tooth decay and gum disease.