Assessment of the diet of 0- to 6-year-old children in municipal schools in a Brazilian city.

Diet control is one of the important factors in the prevention of dental caries because food functions as substratum for fermentation and, consequently, for the formation of the organic acids that demineralize the tooth surface. This study aims to descriptively assess school diet and the associated caries-preventive methods applied to children in all municipal nursery schools of a Brazilian city (Aragatuba/SP). For this, a questionnaire with open and closed questions was used. The results showed that all schools serve school meal, which is composed mainly of sugar, carbohydrates, and proteins. The students enjoy the meal very much because for most of them, the meal served at school is the only source of food. It was observed that 90% of the schools offer other kinds of food besides the main school meal. The snacks served such as cakes, white hominy, and milk fudge are composed of sweet and highly cariogenic foods. It was also verified that in 13.30% of the schools, the daily supervised dental hygiene, an important procedure that should not be neglected, is not carried out. This procedure introduces the children to healthy habits that are added to those acquired in the family environment. It was concluded that the school diet is potentially cariogenic and, in association with the lack of daily dental hygiene, this potential may become even higher.

[Reduction of dental caries after two years with a combination of mouthwashes and topical fluorides]. / Redução da cárie dentária apos dois anos da associação de bochechos e aplicações tópicas com fluor.

The study's purpose was to evaluate the reduction of dental caries incidence by the association of two preventive methods. 246 students of both sexes aged from 7 to 11 years registered in "Escola de Educação Básica da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia" and living in the urbana area of Uberlândia, state of Minas Gerais, were examined. The sample was distributed into two groups: children from Group 1, which received a semestral topical application of Acidulated Fluor Phosphate at 1.23% and children from Group II, that besides the topical application above related (Group I) also received weekly mouthwashes of sodium fluoride aquesus solution at 0.2%. After two years of study DMFS index were tabled and statistically analysed. It was verified a reduction of 33.97% in the incidence of dental caries (in the permanent dentition). The difference between the Groups was significant at 5% level of confidence.

Influence of salivary glands extirpation on procreation in rats.

The influence of extirpation of the submandibular and sublingual, parotid and all major salivary glands on pregnancy of rats was studied. The statistic analysis of the results indicated that there are statistically significant differences in the number of offsprings between before and after extirpation of the salivary glands. The parotidectomized female rats presented the smallest number of offsprings as compared with other groups and presented some progressive sterility after the gland extirpation.