[Prevalence of dental caries in children before and after a prevention program in Seine-Saint-Denis]. / Prévalence de la carie dentaire chez l'enfant avant et après un programme de prévention en Seine-Saint-Denis.

BACKGROUND: The Seine-Saint-Denis Council planned in 1984 a prevention strategy program among schoolchildren which consisted in a health educational campaign and fluoridation therapy. The purpose of this paper was to present the evolution of dental caries among 11-year-old children from a low-income country after 8 years of prevention and to discuss further orientations in prevention. METHODS: Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 1984 and 1992 on, respectively, 1,907 and 2,771 schoolchildren attending primary schools of the department. The DMF index, summing up the total number of decayed, missing or filled permanent teeth was used to assess dentition status. RESULTS: The DMF index ranged from 3.38 in 1984 to 1.99 in 1992, a 41% decrease. This decrease was associated with a change of the distribution in DMF, the percentage of caries-free children increasing from 19% to 42% after 8 years. 83% of the decayed teeth were first molars. In 1992, only 24% of children received comprehensive care. In both surveys, the prevalence of dental caries was related to socio-economic status. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention strategy in this low-income county, led to improved dental health among children. However, the study design did not allow for evaluation of the impact of preventive measures on the evolution of dental caries prevalence. The community program contributed to improved dental health in most children even if it could not prevent the development of dental caries in very low-income children with severely decayed teeth and no access to dental care. Further steps in order to improve prevention, including use of sealants among these children, are under evaluation.

Eye dominance in children: a longitudinal study.

In a sample of 807 normal preschool children aged from 3 to 6, examined eye dominance was not associated with the declared eye dominance of their parents. Forty percent of the children showed left-eyedness. Eyedness was associated with handedness and not significantly related to age group or sex. A strong relationship between the answers of the two parents concerning eye preference was observed. Two hundred forty-four children were followed-up for 2 years. The examinations were carried out once every 6 months. Two thirds of the children showed perfect stability in eye dominance. There was some evidence that stability in eye use tends to increase with age and to be lower in left-handed children with left-handed parents. There is, at present, very little evidence of a positive association between eye dominance in parents and that in their children.

Periodontal status in insulin-dependent diabetic adolescents.

A cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the periodontal status of 85 12-18 year-old French adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM) and 38 healthy controls in the same age group. The clinical examination consisted of plaque control and gingival inflammation evaluation and probing attachment level. The interproximal marginal bone level was assessed with bitewing radiographs taken on the first molars and on areas presenting an attachment loss over 2 mm. Diabetic children had significantly more gingival inflammation than children without diabetes, in spite of similar plaque scores. No significant relation between gingival condition and age, Tanner's index, HbAlc level or disease duration could be demonstrated. None of the subjects had sites with attachment loss > or = 3 mm or radiographic signs of periodontitis.

Foot and eye preferences in adults: relationship with handedness, sex and age.

Age, sex, and handedness effects in foot and eye preferences were studied by questionnaire in large samples of normal adult populations from five different countries (total sample, n = 5064). Foot and eye preference were significantly associated with handedness category (right or left) in all the 10 sex by country samples for foot, and in 9/10 samples for eye. The overall frequencies of crossed preferences were 5% between hand and foot and 19.5% between hand and eye. In right-handers, a gradual shift toward the "right" with increasing age was systematically observed, both for footedness and eyedness. The proportion of crossed hand-foot preference was higher in men than women (7.4% vs 2.5%), and higher in left-handers than right-handers (16.3% vs 4.1%). Sex differences in the proportion of crossed hand-eye preference were variable from one country to the other.