Evaluation of an educational program for children with high risk of caries.

The goal of this study was to evaluate a 15-month educational program designed to children. The sample consisted of 60 six-year olds, randomly assigned into control and experimental group. The control consisted of tooth brushing training, once a year. The experimental group received intensive individual tooth brushing training every three months and guidance on oral health. Initially, both groups were assessed using plaque, gingival, dmfs and DMF-S indexes every three months. In the control, no statistically significant difference was observed for plaque and gingival indexes. The experimental group showed a statistically significant reduction in mean values for two indexes. The caries indexes showed no statistically significant difference. The proposed educational program developed was efficient in reducing gingival and plaque indexes as well caries incidence.

Characterization and evaluation of isomalt performance in direct compression.

Isomalt is a sugar substitute with a wide range of potential pharmaceutical applications as a result of its physicochemical properties. Four grades of this material were evaluated for their physical characteristics. Only Palatinit(R) C and F exhibited potential characteristics for direct compression. As expected, the products required lubrification for tabletting. A level of 1% lubricant gave the best performance for Palatinit(R) C, the most compressible grade as shown by compaction profiles generated using a single-punch machine. However, its flow behaviour had to be improved by including 0.5% Aerosil(R) 200 as shown by tablet weight uniformity data. Further evaluation by Heckel analysis showed that isomalt exhibited plastic behaviour and underwent elastic recovery primary in the die. Its dilution potential was examined using powdered paracetamol. Acceptable tablets were produced up to 30% drug dilution, but the tensile strength values were reduced, disintegration time and friability increased as expected. Drug dissolution profiles showed a decreasing dissolution rate with the increase of compression force and drug concentration, but considerable improvement was noted when a disintegrant was included. The physical characteristics of the tablets were relatively stable after half a year storage at different humidities as a result of the low hygroscopicity of isomalt.

Update on the nomenclature of carbohydrates and their dental effects.

OBJECTIVES: This review aims to clarify the nomenclature of carbohydrates, including novel manufactured carbohydrates which are becoming increasingly popular within the food industry, and to summarise what is known about the effects of different carbohydrates on dental health. DATA SOURCES: This review compiles information from articles published in mainstream microbiological, nutritional and dental journals that are of relevance to carbohydrates and dental health. STUDY SELECTION: The review considers literature on classification of carbohydrates by chain length, for example mono-di-oligo- and poly-saccharides and classification for dental health purposes, namely intrinsic, non-milk extrinsic sugars. This paper includes a comprehensive review of information on novel carbohydrates including isomaltosaccharides, fructo-oligosaccharides and gluco-oligosaccharides, maltodextrins and glucose syrups. Information on polyols and non-starch polysaccharides is also presented and current knowledge on the dental effects of all carbohydrates are discussed. CONCLUSION: There is a wealth of information on dietary sugars and the effects of sugars on dental health is established knowledge. However, the range of 'novel' manufactured carbohydrates which are becoming available for food use is increasing and information regarding the cariogenicity of these substances is sparse. Research indicates that maltodextrins and glucose syrups are cariogenic, however, initial studies on some synthetic oligosaccharides have suggested reduced cariogenicity compared to sucrose. Further human plaque pH and in vitro and in vivo tests of cariogenicity are required to clarify these initial observations.