Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

PUBLISHED IN LONDON A study undertaken by the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) has revealed that although dental products may be commodities that find their way into everybody’s shopping trolley, only a quarter (26 per cent) of people under- stands what ingredients they are made from and their purpose. The findings, which have been published by the British Dental Health Foundation as part of this month’s National Smile Month campaign, worryingly revealed that 33 per cent of people failed to understand the ingredients that were contained in their dental products and a further 41 per cent only partly understood what was contained in them. Participants were also asked if they felt it was important that the manufacturers’ product claims had been independently tested to check they are clinically proven and not exaggerated; the results indicated that half the people question felt that independent test- ing was important and less than a quarter of the people felt that such testing was ‘extremely important’. Out of the remaining participants, 20 per cent were indifferent to independent testing, whilst the remaining felt such means were unimportant. The survey also revealed that approaching three quarters (72 per cent) of people did not always believe the product claims made on dental products. The Foundation believes the issues are connected and has an- nounced plans to publish a glos- sary of common ingredients and their purpose to help educate and inform consumers. Dr Nigel Carter, Chief Execu- tive of the British Dental Health Foundation, said: “The Founda- tion has a long track record of helping to educate the public on all aspects of oral health issues. For nearly 20 years, we have been evaluating consumer oral health care products to ensure that manufacturers’ product claims are clinically proven and not ex- aggerated – an issue which is considered important by nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of con- sumers. “Providing consumers with more information about ingre- dients is a natural extension of our charitable work in this area. When you glance down the ingre- dients list of a typical toothpaste or mouthwash it is easy to see why people may have some difficul- ties. Even common ingredients like water may sometimes be de- scribed in terms that not everyone will understand such as ‘aqua’. “We hope our new glossary of common ingredients will help more people to make an informed choice about which products to buy and how it can help their oral health. Consumers can also find a list of approved products on our website at www.dentalhealth.org”, said Dr Carter. DT June 6-12, 2011 VOL. 5 NO. 13 Neck-loose tooth KE$HA is asking her fans for an unusual donation - she wants their teeth! The singer, who has repeatedly hit the headlines for her controver- sial comments and stunts (one such stunt earlier this year saw her drinking blood from an animal heart during a gig) now wants to make a quirky necklace out her fans molars. She is appealing to her devotees to offer up their molars and according to a re- port KE$HA’s motivation to make the necklace happened after a fan sent her a tooth. She was reported as saying on Twitter.com: “I’ve received one tooth from a fan. I made it into a necklace. But now I re- ally wanna make a fan tooth necklace to wear to an awards show.” Hopefully fans won’t take this too literally and start pulling their teeth out! Dental headache The cause of your headaches could actually be the way teeth meet when jaws bite to- gether, otherwise known as dental occlusion. When the joints cause pressure to be put on the nerves, muscles and blood vessels that pass near the head, the result can be headaches and migraines, a condition that affects one in seven people in the UK. Chief Executive of the Brit- ish Dental Health Founda- tion, Dr Nigel Carter, believes this information serves as a timely reminder for patients to arrange a visit to the den- tist. Dentists may be able to help patients or refer them to a specialist who deals with occlusal problems, as pa- tients teeth may need to be adjusted to meet evenly, as changing the direction and position of the slopes that guide teeth together can of- ten help reposition the jaw. Clearer food labelling Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation, Children’s Food Campaign and consumer watchdog Which? have writ- ten to the health secretary to demand better labelling on food. The organisations are concerned that at present, shoppers find it hard to deter- mine the nutritional content of the food they are buying. They want the UK’s repre- sentatives in Europe to back mandatory front-of-pack la- belling during an EU vote on the issue in July, including information on energy, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. Consumers are also being urged to email their local MPs ahead of the vote in July and ask them to back mandatory front of pack labelling for fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar. www.dental-tribune.co.uk Prescribing not supplying Dental Tribune investigates the whitening debate Dispatching the truth Dental Tribune looks at the last- est programme on NHS dentistry 3-D diagnostics Bach, Müller and Rottler discuss 3-D techniques News in Brief News & Opinions ClinicalNews & OpinionsNews Bullying... Is it linked to dental appearence? page 4 pages 9-10 pages 11-12 pages 21-22 Public ‘need more edu- cation’ on dental products The British Dental Health Foundation survey reveals some worrying statistics about the public’s dental product education The public are unaware of what dental products contain