Use of toothpastes with optimal fluoride concentration in Latvia
Ilze Maldupa, Asst. prof., Department of Conservative Dentistry and Oral Health, ilze.maldupa@rsu.lv
Ilze Maldupa, ilze.maldupa@rsu.lv
Ilona Viduskalne, ilona.viduskalne@rsu.lv
Jūlija Kalniņa, julija.kalnina@rsu.lv
Līga Kroniņa, liga.konina@rsu.lv
Sergio Uribe, sergio.uribe@uach.cl
Egita Senakola, egita.senakola@rsu.lv
Anda Brinkmane, anda.brinkmane@rsu.lv
Toothpaste with >1000 ppm fluoride effectively prevents tooth decay. In the market, it is possible to find pastes with different concentrations of fluoride. Our aim is to quantify the use of toothpaste in Latvia according to the concentration of fluoride labeled in the toothpaste.
After approval of the Riga Stradins University Ethics Committee, a cross-sectional survey-based study was carried out in December,2018 in nine schools all over Latvia. A previously validated questionnaire was used to collect demographic information and type of toothpaste used by each family member. Descriptive statistics were obtained using program R and the tidyverse package.
A total of 307 children and their families participated. The response rate was 69.4% and 10 questionnaires were discarded for being incomplete. A total of 203 questionnaires gave information about 1016 family members (mean age 25.9 years, range 1-84). We registered 228 different kinds of toothpaste of which 54 were without fluoride. In 11.8% of families one toothpaste for all household members is used, but in 57.1% of families, special children toothpaste is chosen for children. A 15.6% of people reported the use of toothpaste without fluoride, 15.1% with less than 1000ppm and 62% use toothpaste with fluoride over 1000ppm. The proportion of people who use fluoride-free toothpaste is greater in adult age group (19%) and those, who use toothpaste with 550 ppm or less, greater in children aged 1-5 years (32%).
In 62% of Latvian families, toothpaste containing optimal concentration of fluoride are used. This suggests that there is a significant percentage of families that occupy toothpaste with little or no effectiveness against tooth decay. Efforts should, therefore, be made to communicate to patients about the correct use of this important preventive and therapeutic strategy to reduce dental caries.
This research was funded by The Foundation of Oral Health. The authors declare no conflict of interests.