Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Andrew Rugg-Gunn
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
The Cochrane Review on water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries was published in 2015 and attracted considerable interest and comment, especially in countries with extensive water fluoridation programmes. The Review had two objectives: (i) to evaluate the effects of water fluoridation (artificial or natural) on the prevention of dental caries, and (ii) to evaluate the effects of water fluoridation (artificial or natural) on dental fluorosis. The authors concluded, inter alia, that there was very little contemporary evidence, meeting the Review's inclusion criteria, that evaluated the effectiveness of water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries. The purpose of this critique is to examine the conduct of the above Review, and to put it into context in the wider body of evidence regarding the effectiveness of water fluoridation. While the overall conclusion that water fluoridation is effective in caries prevention agrees with previous reviews, many important public health questions could not be answered by the Review because of the restrictive criteria used to judge adequacy of study design and risk of bias. The potential benefits of using wider criteria in order to achieve a fuller understanding of the effectiveness of water fluoridation are discussed.
Author(s): Rugg-Gunn AJ, Spencer AJ, Whelton HP, Jones C, Beal JF, Castle P, Cooney PV, Johnson J, Kelly MP, Lennon MA, McGinley J, O'Mullane D, Sgan-Cohen HD, Sharma PP, Thomson WM, Woodward SM, Zusmanwater SP
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: British Dental Journal
Year: 2016
Volume: 220
Issue: 7
Pages: 335-340
Online publication date: 08/04/2016
Acceptance date: 19/02/2016
ISSN (print): 0007-0610
ISSN (electronic): 1476-5373
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2016.257
DOI: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2016.257
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
