ArticleJournal of dental research2013
Effects of fluoridated drinking water on dental caries in Australian adults.
Article in Journal of dental research, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 92 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genes in the pathway of tooth mineral tissues and dental caries risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical oral investigations · 2020Pooled it
- Dental conditions associated with preventable hospital admissions in Australia: a systematic literature review.BMC health services research · 2018Pooled it
- Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- A new understanding of the relationship between sugars, dental caries and fluoride use: implications for limits on sugars consumption.Public health nutrition · 2014Pooled it
- Water fluoridation today: - benefits and challenges.Frontiers in oral health · 2026Review
- Environmental Contaminants, Iron Deficiency, and Iron-Deficiency Anemia: A Review of the Literature.Scientifica · 2025Review
- FOK l Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphism and Risk of Dental Caries: A Case-Control Study.International journal of dentistry · 2022Article
- Age period cohort analysis of chewing ability in Korea from 2007 to 2018.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Fluoride in the drinking water and dental caries experience by tooth surface susceptibility among adults.BMC oral health · 2021Article
- How effective and cost-effective is water fluoridation for adults? Protocol for a 10-year retrospective cohort study.BDJ open · 2021Article
- The Psychological Models of Health-related Behavior in Understanding Sugars Intake in Adults: A Review.Oman medical journal · 2020Review
- Risk Factors Associated with Carious Lesions in Permanent First Molars in Children: A Seven-Year Retrospective Cohort Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Reduction of Dental Caries Among Children and Adolescents From a 15-Year Community Water Fluoridation Program in a Township Area, Korea.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Dental and medical practitioners' perception of community water fluoridation as a caries preventive measure.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2019Article
- A survey of cariology teaching in Australia and New Zealand.BMC medical education · 2018Article
- Oral Development and Pathology.Ochsner journal · 2018Review
- Factors related to reducing free sugar intake among white ethnic adults in the UK: a qualitative study.BDJ open · 2018Article
- The costs and benefits of water fluoridation in NZ.BMC oral health · 2017Article
- Variation in Enamel Formation Genes Influences Enamel DemineralizationFrontiers in physiology · 2017Article
- Critique of the review of 'Water fluoridation for the prevention of dental caries' published by the Cochrane Collaboration in 2015.British dental journal · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Systematic reviews produce conflicting conclusions regarding dental caries-preventive effects of water fluoridation in adults. The authors investigated the relationship using data from the nationally representative 2004-2006 Australian National Survey of Adult Oral Health. Effects were compared between the pre-fluoridation cohort born before 1960 (n = 2,270) and the cohort born between 1960 and 1990 (n = 1,509), when widespread implementation of fluoridation increased population coverage from < 1% to 67%. Residential history questionnaires determined the percentage of each person's lifetime exposed to fluoridated water. Examiners recorded decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMF-Teeth) and decayed and filled tooth surfaces (DF-Surfaces). Socio-demographic and preventive dental behaviors were included in multivariable least-squares regression models adjusted for potential confounding. In fully adjusted models, > 75% of lifetime exposure to fluoridation relative to < 25% of lifetime exposure was associated with 11% and 10% fewer DMF-Teeth in the pre-1960 (p < .0001) and 1960-1990 cohorts (p = .018), respectively. Corresponding reductions in DF-Surfaces were 30% (p < .001) and 21% (p < .001). Findings for intermediate fluoridation exposure suggested a dose-response relationship. Results were consistent in sensitivity analyses accounting for missing data. In this nationally representative sample of Australian adults, caries-preventive effects of water fluoridation were at least as great in adults born before widespread implementation of fluoridation as after widespread implementation of fluoridation.
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