The Joint ORCA-EADPH Symposium on Sugar: The Oral Health Perspective – A Commentary

Abstract

Caries is the most prevalent chronic condition worldwide and the association between high-level intake of sugars and dental decay is strong and well established. Interestingly, to combat caries, dental practitioners and public health dentists in many countries have focused mainly on the application of different kinds of fluorides and fissure sealants but not on the reduction of sugar intake. Furthermore, for many years, sugars have not been the focus of dental research activities presented at the annual conferences of the European Organisation for Caries Research (ORCA) and the European Association of Dental Public Health (EADPH). In 2015, following the publication of the new WHO guidelines on the intake of sugars, the boards of ORCA and EADPH agreed to organize a common symposium entitled “Joint ORCA-ADPH Symposium on Sugar: The Oral Health Perspective”. This symposium was organized by a scientific committee and took place on July 6, 2016, in association with the 63rd ORCA Congress in Athens, Greece. It included 9 lectures highlighting different aspects of sugar consumption, contribution of sugar to dental caries, measuring sugar consumption, and fighting against sugar on a patient and public health basis. The purpose of this commentary is to give background information about the rationale of the above-mentioned symposium.

Ultra-processed foods and early childhood caries in 0–3‐year‐olds enrolled at Primary Healthcare Centers in Southern Brazil

“…A longitudinal analysis of the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort study revealed that the caries lifetime increase was 66 % higher in the group of children with a high frequency of sugar consumption compared with those with low consumption, regardless of the use of dental services and regular oral hygiene (28) . These results highlight the potential that effective interventions to change eating behaviours can have on children's oral health outcomes, corroborating the argument of experts (42) .…”

Consumo de azúcar y caries de la infancia temprana en Cali, Colombia

“…Questions included type of food, size of meal, frequency of eating and kind of drinking per day, snacks, candies and feeding before going to sleep. A home visit and an interview with the mother's during a weekend confirm the data reported, using an approach that summarizes the information captured by the food frequency variables and analysed (22). Frequency of tooth brushing in the house and the day care was also recorded.…”

Zahnmedizinische Diagnoseprävalenzen bei Kindern, Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen mit psychischen Störungen im Vergleich zu Gesunden-Analyse und Abschätzung kassenärztlicher Abrechnungsdaten (2019)

“…überregionalen oder flächendeckenden, klinischen intraoralen Befunden (Kariesprävalenz und Karieserfahrung) abzugleichen. Denn obgleich sich der Trend einer Verbesserung der Mundgesundheit in Deutschland sehr wahrscheinlich zukünftig verstetigt [32], wird die Zahnkaries im Kindes-und Jugendalter noch immer als eine der am meisten verbreiteten chronischen Erkrankungen weltweit betrachtet [33]. Diese Erkrankung hat unbehandelt folglich auch einen negativen Einfluss auf die Lebensqualität vulnerabler Subgruppen.…”