Six national health bodies have come together to promote the benefits of water fluoridation and to oppose the recent decision of Queensland and some other state governments to permit local councils to decide whether or not to add fluoride to their water supplies. The six peak bodies have said, in a joint press release, they "are concerned both for the health of individuals and also that broader public health activities are being undermined".

A common test used to determine mercury exposure from dental amalgam fillings may significantly overestimate the amount of the toxic metal released from fillings, according to University of Michigan researchers.

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The Australian Dental Association (ADA) has noted the latest release of significant research that serves to reinforce scientific consensus that drinking fluoridated water is beneficial to all Australians' dental health. The release of the article, 'Effects of Fluoridated Drinking Water on Dental Caries in Australian Adults' in the Journal of Dental Research shows that Australian adults with a >75 per cent lifetime exposure to water fluoridation have significantly reduced caries experience when compared with those with a <25 per cent lifetime exposure.

Half of people would leave a non-healing mouth ulcer longer than recommended, potentially leaving a mouth cancer symptom going undetected, according to new research conducted last month by the British Dental Health Foundation.

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The annual report of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the National Boards has been published, and it shows the dental profession is the second-fastest growing medical profession (behind physiotherapists). AHPRA estimates that Dentists, dental specialists, dental therapists, dental hygienists, oral health therapists and dental prosthetists, who make up the dental profession, increased … READ MORE

Tools of trade:
Vaseline

by Dr John Chiang, Picton Dental, Picton, NSW

I have read Tools of the Trade for years now, and always enjoyed the reviews of cheap generic products. It's easy to rave about a $200,000 cone-beam CT scanner and how it improves our dentistry but it is also interesting to read about the ingenious ways dentists use everyday products. I have found Vaseline to be a very useful product.

Children's oral health is associated with the oral health of their parents and their family circumstances according to Families and their oral health, a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

A second report, Chronic conditions and oral health, also released today by the AIHW, shows that people with chronic conditions and diseases were more likely than those without to have poor dental health.

We trust our dentist more than we trust our doctor, according to new research.

There is a long held view of the traditional family GP widely trusted within the community, always on hand to dish out advice. But new research reveals that dentists are winning the race for trust, as 88 per cent of people surveyed in a new poll3, confirmed that they have a very high degree of trust in their dentist, even greater than in their doctor.

A new report from Queensland's independent health watchdog shows dental complaints could be reduced if more dental practitioners adhered to existing standards, policies and guidelines.

While it's rarely news when someone gets a filling, paleoantologists are quite excited this week to report what may be one of the world's oldest fillings-made of beeswax, in a jaw recovered from a cave near Trieste, Italy. The specimen has been stored at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Italy for the past century, but it has only been recently that the beeswax filling has been noticed.