Tooth Decay Study
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Treatment procedures used in the RAND study
Treatment procedures were organized into four packages, each containing the kinds of procedures likely to be combined if a school-based dental program were implemented.
- Application of sealants
- Treatment with fluoride paste and gel
- Weekly fluoride mouthrinse or daily fluoride if the community's water was not fluoridated
- Education about brushing and flossing
Does fluoride in water really help prevent tooth decay?
RAND studied more than 20,000 first, second, and fifth graders over four years to measure whether dental health lessons, brushing and flossing, fluoride mouth wash, and professionally applied topical fluorides in school were more effective in preventing cavities than just having fluoride in a community's water supply. RAND's unexpected findings: None of these procedures, even when applied together, was more effective in preventing cavities than fluoride in the water supply. The dental health of children had improved so dramatically over the previous decades, thanks to fluoridated water and toothpaste, that a school-based program had little to prevent.
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