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Abstract
Fluoridated milk reduced caries increment by about 70%.
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Bian JY, Wang WH et al. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2003; 31: 241–245
In several Beijing kindergartens, 417 children were given 200 ml milk containing 2.5 mg/l of fluoride each weekday, and 250 ml for use each Saturday and Sunday, while 247 children at other kindergartens were control subjects. Drop out rates were respectively 22% and 19%. At the start of the study, the mean age of children in both groups was 4.5 yrs. Water fluoride levels were <0.3 mg/l, and milk levels <0.02 mg/l.
Data from the 1999 national survey gave the caries prevalence in Beijing 5-yr-olds as 76% and mean dmft as 4.2, of which ft was 0.5. There was good correlation between examiners, with kappa values around 0.87-0.91, although not all examiners were blind. At baseline, mean test dmft was 3.2 and control, 3.5, with respective caries prevalences 66% and 68%. Caries was arrested in a mean of 0.3 teeth in the test group and 0.1 in controls, while 51% of the test group, and 73% of the control group, had new caries. Respective increments after 21 months were 0.4 and 1.3, and prevalences increased to 72% and 82%. The authors note that the trial was not randomized, but that the groups were similar in all essential respects.
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Effect of fluoridated milk on caries in primary teeth: 21-month results. Br Dent J 195, 693 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4810823
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4810823