Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-04-30

Oral health, fluoride toothpaste and fluorosis: information based planning for Europe

Objective

In this project standardised procedures and methods will be developed on measuring fluoride ingestion from toothpastes and for measurement of dental fluorosis. These methods will be utilised to measure fluoride ingestion from toothpaste in the participating countries and to measure enamel fluorosis in the deciduous and permanent incisors of children.

Europe provides a valuable market for toothpaste products. Industry continually conducts clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of new or altered formulations in preventing dental caries, a disease which, although now present at a much lower level than previously, is still almost ubiquitous in its prevalence. It is generally accepted that a major factor in the improvement in oral health has been the development and currently, widespread use of fluoride toothpastes. Health care companies strive to improve the effectiveness of their products to claim superiorty and thus increase their market share. Two methods of doing this are to further increase fluoride levels or to improve flavour of the existing fluoride toothpaste and thus perhaps increase frequency of use. Either action results in the potential for increased ingestion of fluoride from toothpaste through inadvertent swallowing by young children. However, such efforts to increase sales could theoretically result in an increased prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis on the anterior permanent teeth. Over the last five years, there have been allegations that ingestion of fluoride from toothpaste by children has given rise to an increase in enamel fluorosis. ln some countries industry has reacted by introducing low fluoride 'paediatric' toothpaste. There is no substantial evidence to show that these latter toothpaste are effective in preventing dental caries. Hence, an acceleration of this recent trend may lead to a worsening of oral health in Europe.

This is a classic public health dilemma in which, due to misuse by a tiny minority of the population of a very effective measure, the benefits of this measure maybe reduced or withdrawn from the population as a whole. Central to this debate are two measurement issues, namely the measurement of fluoride ingestion by young children through use of fluoride toothpaste, and the measurement of fluorosis. In order to resolve this public health dilemma in the EU on the appropriate fluoride levels in toothpaste, consensus on standardised procedures and methods to measure dental fluorosis and fluoride ingestion are essential. Different health agencies in the different member states are getting variable and non standardised data on both and hence, conflicting advice on the issue. Data from this project will be used as a basis from which conclusions may be drawn for the future development of fluoride toothpastes for prevention of dental caries in Europe.
The proposed project will address a problem which effects all European health systems. In particular, it addresses a major issue facing the oral health care industry in Europe, its partnership with oral health agencies and its role in health promotion. An unsatisfactory resolution to the debate on fluoride levels in toothpastes could have a major impact on the oral health of Europeans in the future.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

Data not available

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

University College Cork
EU contribution
No data
Address
WILTON
30 CORK
Ireland

See on map

Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0