American Dental Association Journal Cover Story Written by IU Dental School Authors
(Origianlly published September 20, 2006)
INDIANAPOLIS - The September issue of the nation's leading dental journal for general practitioners features as its cover story an article written by IU School of Dentistry faculty members Dr. Margherita Fontana and Dr. Domenick Zero.
"Assessing Patients' Caries (Dental Decay) Risk" is the lead article in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA). Both authors are researchers at the school's Oral Health Research Institute (OHRI)/Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry. Dr. Fontana directs the Microbial Caries Facility, and Dr. Zero is OHRI director and the dental school's associate dean for Research.
The article, which is part of JADA's Practical Science series, provides dentists with information on how they can incorporate risk assessment into their practices to either prevent dental decay in patients or to halt the disease in its earliest stages, before decay becomes severe enough to require restorative treatment. The principles recommended in the article are the same that are being taught to dental students at the IU School of Dentistry and applied in the school's dental clinics.
Citing their own research and that of many other scientists, the authors cover a wide array of circumstances and conditions that put people at risk for dental decay, including activities that at first glance would seem to be unrelated to dental health. Leaving home for college, for example, represents a lifestyle change that can affect students' diet and oral hygiene practices, and subsequently their oral health.
By monitoring caries risk in patients, dentists can design caries management plans to suit individual need, and can take steps to prevent the disease such as changing the frequency of recall visits for patients at high risk.
Dr. Fontana is president-elect of the International Association for Dental Research's Cariology Group, and Dr. Zero recently completed a term as chair of the American Dental Association's Council on Scientific Affairs.
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