Reasons for the caries decline: what do the experts believe?

TLDR

The study aims to identify experts’ beliefs about the main causes of the caries decline in westernized countries over the past three decades. The authors surveyed 55 experts using a questionnaire with 25 items grouped into diet, fluoride, plaque, saliva, dental materials, and other factors, asking them to rate each factor’s impact in specific regions with or without water fluoridation. Experts’ responses revealed wide variation in perceived importance of factors, but all agreed that fluoride toothpaste has a definite positive effect on caries decline.

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to describe what experts of today believe are the main reasons explaining the caries decline seen in many westernized countries over the past 3 decades. We have collected the views of a number of international experts, trying to answer the specific question “What are the main reasons why 20‐25‐year‐old persons have less caries nowadays, compared to 30 years ago?”. A questionnaire was mailed to 55 experts with a number of thinkable explanations to be scored according to a predetermined scale. The 25 items were divided into main groups under the heading of diet, fluorides. plaque, saliva, dentist/dental materials and other factors. The experts were asked to think of a specific country or area, and also to specify whether the chosen area had water fluoridation or not. The main finding of our study, based on a 95% response rate, was that there is a very large variation in how the experts graded the impact of various possible factors. For the use of fluoride toothpaste, there was a clear agreement of a definite positive effect.