ABSTRACT
Background: Prevention of dental caries is important for nutrition and health of the child. Sucrose being considered an arch criminal, various substitutes are recommended. Xylitol is an artificial sweetener which cannot be metabolized by bacteria. Thus, it seems to be a promising method in prevention of dental caries. Materials and Methods: Fifty children between the age of 3–6 years were randomly divided into two groups; Group 1: Control group (without lollipops) and Group 2: Experimental group (with sugar substitute lollipops). The saliva sample was collected at four different time intervals, and pH of saliva was determined using universal pH indicator. Results: There was a significant drop in the pH after drinking sweetened beverages in both the groups, but there was a significant rise in pH after having xylitol + erythritol lollipops which almost returned to baseline after 15 min. Conclusion: Lollipops containing xylitol and erythritol can be used in small children and it has potential to increase salivary pH, thus not allowing the pH to fall below the critical value.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The usage of smartphone (SP) has dramatically increased among young University students for their daily work and social media connect. It affects hand functions, and the present study was aimed at checking for chronicity of SP use and their effect on hand function. Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design ─ N=150 university students in the age group of 18-35 years were involved, after taking informed consent. They were using smartphone chronically (>12 months minimum). Hand functions were checked using Smartphone addiction scale (SAS) and Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ). To check the effect of chronicity the participants were grouped based on daily usage (3-6hrs; 6-9hrs & >9hrs per day of SP use), and usage over a period of months (12-60 months; 60-120 months & >120 months of SP use). One – way ANOVA was used to check significant difference taking p=0.05 as the level of significance. Results: For all participants Mean values were ─ SAS = 22.63 ± 4.075, BCTQ FSS = 11.41 ± 3.784, BCTQ SSS= 15.053 ± 4.32. Significant differences were seen in daily usage of SP on BCTQ FSS (p=0.00097 & f ratio=5.73) and BCTQ SSS (p=0.032 & f ratio=2.99). ANOVA for SAS was significant (p<0.05) for daily usage groups but not for usage over a period of months. Conclusion: Excessive daily usage of smartphone for more than 3 hours, chronically leads to hand symptoms among University students, and it is addictive as seen here, however chronicity of use over months in non-addictive. It has implications during daily extended uses like working on SP for official work and gaming.