The Navy has experimented further-with a
"self-preparation" program. Before they go to the dental clinic,
servicemen get a cup of pumice paste containing fluoride and are shown in
groups how to brush it on their teeth for 10 minutes to achieve a thorough
cleaning and burnishing.
After that, a dentist has only to apply a fluoride
solution for 15 seconds and the treatment is completed. The self-preparation
technique has been extended to children of naval personnel, and Admiral Kyes is
convinced it has broad implications for the civilian community.
As Navy
children scrub their teeth at home under their mothers' supervision and go todental clinics for brief and inexpensive treatment, so schoolchildren can scrub
at home and receive their topical application at home. Self-preparation is a
dental Pandora's box because it breaks through dentistry's two restraining
bonds-time and lack of manpower.
The Armed Forces' work has provided a
clear-cut demonstration on a massive scale that decay prevention techniques are
highly effective for adults as well as children and that they may be widely and
inexpensively applied.
Dental diseases are directly responsible for general poor
health, affecting patients of all ages. Rampant dental cavities in children not
only result in facial deformities in adulthood but contribute significantly to
bacterial contamination of the blood and may be quite important in the
development of certain forms of heart disease.
The elimination of decay ... is
most urgent in the treatment of bacterial endocarditis [a heart infection] and
rheumatic fever. Elimination of dental disease is essential in preventing
certain forms of kidney disease in children and adults.
