Overview and quality assurance for the oral health component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2003-04.

The 2003-04 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was a collaborative effort involving 28 federal funding partners with the National Center for Health Statistics. The collaborators for the 2003-04 NHANES oral health component included the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Oral Health. Oral health data are available on 8272 persons aged 2 years or older. This report provides an overview of the 2003-04 oral health component including content descriptions and procedures for oral health assessments conducted for the first time in a national survey in the United States. These assessments include posterior functional contacts, tooth wear, and oral health-related quality of life. This report also provides evaluations of data quality in terms of examiner reliability statistics (percent agreements, kappas, and correlation coefficients) for various NHANES 2003-04 oral health examination components and analytical recommendations for producing 6-year estimates using the previous two NHANES data collection components (1999-2000 and 2001-02).

Effects of short- and long-term exposure of silver nanoparticles and silver ions to Nitrosomonas europaea biofilms and planktonic cells.

The increasing use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in consumer products, and their resulting influx into wastewater, may pose a threat to biological nutrient removal in wastewater treatment plants. Planktonic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), which convert ammonia to nitrite in the first step of nitrification, are highly sensitive to AgNPs and their released silver ions (Ag+), but the sensitivity of AOB biofilms to AgNPs and Ag+ is less clear. This study demonstrated that biofilms of Nitrosomonas europaea, a model AOB, were more resistant to both short-term and long-term exposure to AgNP and Ag+ than planktonic cells. The increased resistance of N. europaea biofilms was attributed primarily to the increased biomass and slower growth rates present in the biofilm. Similar inhibition mechanisms were observed for AgNPs and Ag+ in both planktonic cells and biofilms with enzymatic inhibition observed at lower concentrations and cell lysis observed at higher concentrations. Long-term continuous exposure to AgNPs lowered the inhibitory concentration by 1-2 orders of magnitude below that required by short-term exposures. Although the total AgNP load was similar between the short and long-term exposure scenarios, the long-term exposure resulted in an order of magnitude more silver being associated in the biofilms and is the primary reason for the increased sensitivity observed. This suggests that short-term batch toxicity assays may greatly underestimate the sensitivity of biofilm treatment systems to long-term exposures of low concentrations of AgNPs and Ag+.

Overview and quality assurance for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) oral health component, 1999-2002.

The Oral Health Component of the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a collaborative effort between the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Oral Health (NCCDPHP/DOH), and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The current NHANES is designed as a continuous survey with data released on a 2-year cycle to represent the civilian, non-institutionalized population of the US. Oral health data are currently available for 8082 and 9010 persons aged > or =2 years who participated in the 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 NHANES, respectively. This article provides background information on previous national examination surveys with oral health content. It also provides general analytical considerations, oral health content information, and evaluations of data quality in terms of examiner reliability statistics (percent agreements, kappa, and correlation coefficients) for the 1999-2002 NHANES Oral Health Component.

Comparing the costs of three sealant delivery strategies.

We analyzed the cost-effectiveness of 3 sealant delivery strategies: Seal all (SA), seal children assessed to be at risk by screening (TARGET), and seal none (SN). We assumed a nine-year analytic horizon, a 3% discount rate, and zero screening costs. Estimates for sealant costs ($27.00) and restoration costs ($73.77), annual caries increment (0.0624 surfaces), sealant failure rate (20% in yr 1 and 3% thereafter), annual amalgam failure rate (4.6%), and sensitivity (0.635) and specificity (0.795) of screening were obtained from published studies. Under baseline assumptions, TARGET dominated (cost less and reduced caries) SA and SN. If annual caries increment exceeded 0.095 surfaces, SA dominated TARGET, and if increment exceeded 0.05 surfaces, TARGET dominated SN. If sealant costs decreased to $6.00 (reported cost for school programs), TARGET dominated SN for caries increments exceeding 0.007 surfaces, and SA dominated TARGET for caries increments exceeding 0.034 surfaces.