A comparison of the dental health of 5-year-old children from Glasgow, Scotland, in 1984 and 1987.

In 1984, Greater Glasgow Health Board commissioned a study of 5-year-old children to provide information for the planning of dental services. The study revealed high levels of caries prevalence in these children. As a preventive dental care programme has been introduced for pre-school children, a new investigation was undertaken in 1987 to assess whether there had been any improvement in caries prevalence in 5-year-olds. The study also compared caries prevalence in children from good and deprived socio-economic areas. Comparison of mean scores for all children in 1984 and 1987 showed reductions in dmft components with a 17% fall in mean dmft. However, when examined by socioeconomic group, significant differences in caries levels were noted. While there has been an improvement in dental health in 5-year-old children, the dental health divide between children from good and deprived areas has widened over time.

A three year follow up study of the dental health of 12- and 15-year-old schoolchildren in Glasgow.

In 1984 the Greater Glasgow Health Board commissioned a survey of the dental health of 12- and 15-year-old schoolchildren in Glasgow to aid the planning of dental services. As a number of studies have shown that dental health is improving in Western Europe, a new survey was undertaken in 1987 to assess whether there had been any improvement in the dental health of Glasgow schoolchildren. The 1984 study had also demonstrated a lower level of caries prevalence in good socio-economic areas (SEG1) than in deprived areas (SEG2), therefore the new study was designed to investigate further the effect of the social environment. The sampling frame and methods were similar to the 1984 study. Mean DMFT for 12 year old children was 4.71 in 1984 and 2.91 in 1987, a 38 per cent fall. the 15 year old children had mean DMFT scores of 7.97 and 5.56 respectively, a 30 per cent reduction. Although an improvement in dental health was found in all groups, when the data were divided by socio-economic groups major differences were revealed. The percentage improvements found in SEG1 were up to 3 times larger than those in SEG2. Thus the general improvement in dental health was mainly due to the SEG1 children. There has been an improvement in dental health in Glasgow children over the three-year period, but dental caries is still a major problem in many parts of Glasgow, particularly the deprived areas. Urgent steps need to be taken to implement preventive and health promotion programmes in these areas. The whole of Glasgow would benefit from the introduction of water fluoridation at an early date.

Radiological aspects of inverted papilloma.

Of 115 proved cases of inverted papilloma, 81 were studied radiographically. The tumor was seen in both early and late stages. Many cases presented as recurrent tumor after multiple surgical procedures. A common radiologic presentation was a unilateral mass in the nasal fossa with opacification of the contiguous maxillary sinus in a moderately advanced tumor stage. However, other radiologic patterns were encountered and it was therefore impossible to categorize any of these findings as specific for inverted papilloma.

Location by odour and turn selection as two stages in the spontaneous alternation of rats.

Rats were given two free unrewarded trials per day in different T-mazes, oriented at 90 degrees to each other, and wiped with either Cajuput or Anise, which produced distinctive odours. The rate of spontaneous alternation was 82.8 per cent when the same odour was present on both trials, 62.5 per cent when the odour was changed between trials. This result was taken to support the hypothesis that alternation is a two-stage process, involving location then turn selection, and that odour is one of the stimuli used by the rat in locating itself.