Small volumes of oral fluid (about 1 μl) were sampled from different regions of the mouth to establish the pattern of fluoride distribution and clearance at different sites after rinsing with a solution containing 1,000 ppm F (as NaF). Almost immediately after rinsing, the concentrations of fluoride varied considerably from place to place in the mouth. This was due to variations in the rate of fluoride clearance, which seemed to depend largely upon the anatomical disposition of salivary ducts, the rate of salivary secretion and perhaps upon other individual variations related to dental occlusion and the anatomy of the oral cavity. In most other subjects examined, clearance was more rapid in the lower, mandibular part of the mouth than e.g. in the central region of the upper labial vestibule. Differences in the rate of fluoride clearance were often much greater from one individual to another than were the differences in one individual measured on different days.

No abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the involvement of general dental practitioners in Yorkshire in clinical audit activity and in postgraduate dental education and to compare the results with those of a previous survey undertaken in 1989. There is a need to find ways of encouraging all general dental practitioners to become actively involved in continuing professional development and in improving the quality of general dental practice through the use of clinical audit.

This paper describes an attempt to follow the migration of fluoride in the mouth following dissolution of a fluoride tablet, placed at one asymetrically situated position in the mouth, by measuring fluoride concentrations in saliva and by using particles of dentine as semi-quantitative fluoride monitors. The findings demonstrate the failure for the fluoride released from the tablet to result in an overall, elevation of fluoride levels in the oral environment.

Replicas of a dentate human mandible were prepared in photoelastic resin material. They were positioned in a supporting frame by means of struts, representing the principal muscles of mastication. Occlusal loading was simulated, and the stresses generated within the models were examined by three-dimensional photoelastic stress analysis.