Dentifrice effectiveness
The effectiveness of a dental hygiene intervention can be graded by the ‘prevented fraction’, or PF. This has been defined as the “difference in caries increment between a test and a control group, divided by the mean caries increment in the control group.†The higher the PF value, the more protection.
There is a positive, statistically significant dose relationship between dental caries and sodium fluoride, with the prevented fraction ranging from 15.9 per cent for toothpastes containing 500ppm to 35.5 per cent in formulations with 2,800ppm.12
Teeth brushing advice from the British Dental Association19
- Use a fluoride toothpaste twice daily
- Put a pea-sized blob of fluoride toothpaste on the toothbrush
- Use small circular movements to brush
- Make sure all teeth and hard-to-reach places at the back of the mouth and behind the teeth are brushed
- Brush along the gum line as well as the teeth themselves.
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