James E. Jones

Caries prevalence and its association with brushing habits, water availability, and the intake of sugared beverages.

BACKGROUND. With Dental Caries being the most common disease amongst children in the world today, there is a need to fully understand risk factors that may be related to caries prevalence and how they could be best addressed. AIM. The aim of this study was to evaluate soda, juice, sugared-beverage intake, brushing habits, and community water source availability as they relate to the prevalence of both noncavitated and cavitated caries lesions in small rural villages in Mexico. DESIGN. The International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) was used in children from small, isolated, villages in Mexico. Risk factors were assessed via questionnaires. RESULTS. Caries prevalence in the villages was very high, ranging from 94.7% to 100% of the children studied. The mean number of surfaces with lesions per child (D1MFS + d1mfs) having scores ≥1 (noncavitated and cavitated) ranged from 15.4 ± 11.1 to 26.6 ± 15.2. Many of the children reported drinking beverages containing sugar. CONCLUSIONS. Drinking sugared beverages, poor oral hygiene habits, and lack of access to tap water were identified as risk factor for caries in this sample of residents of rural Mexico.

The Effects of Different Levels of Ambient Oxygen in an Oxygen-Enriched Surgical Environment and Production of Surgical Fires

Surgical fires require an oxygen-enriched environment, a flammable substrate, and an ignition source. We hypothesized ambient oxygen concentration is proportional to the latency time to combustion and the incidence of surgical fires that are detected. We examined latency time and number of events, utilizing the VanCleave et al model of intraoral fire ignition under 60, 80, and 100% oxygen concentration and flow rates of 4 and 10 L/min. Results demonstrated that ambient oxygen concentration and flow rate correlated positively to the initiation of combustion. The number of combustion events with 60% oxygen was significantly lower than with both 80% ( p = .0168) and 100% ( p = .002). Likewise, the number of events with 80% oxygen was significantly lower than with 100% oxygen ( p = .0019). Flow rate has a significant effect on the time to the first event ( p = .0002), time to first audible pop ( p = .0039), and time to first flash or fire ( p < .0001). No combustion occurred at oxygen concentrations less than 60% or flows less than 4 L/min. We conclude that latency time to combustion is directly proportional to ambient oxygen concentration and flow rate. Minimum oxygen concentration and flow rate were identified in our model. Further research is indicated to determine the minimal clinical oxygen concentration and flow rate needed to support combustion of an intraoral fire in a patient.