Lollipops fight tooth decay

by LotusFlower | September 20, 2008 at 08:38 am

261 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

Tooth decay is for the most part avoidable in childhood if the correct diet and cleaning regime is in place and yet half of all children will have tooth decay by age 6. This new project gets kids to suck lollies at school to fight the onset of tooth decay but its not any old lolly that the kids are sucking through story time. These lollies are sugar free and contain licorice extract that is known to attack bacteria that cause tooth decay.

"By age 5 and 6, half of children will have tooth decay, so we need to figure out how we stop that before it starts," said Jackie Tallman, a lead investigator for the study.

So, twice a day for three weeks Headstart students at the Maple Hill Center are part of a clinical study by Delta Dental to find out if the sweet solution will toughen up their teeth.

"Each of the children that has consent will be given a lollipop and they keep it in their mouths for 10 minutes," Tallman said.

The lollipops are sugarless and contain a licorice extract proven to prevent dental problems.

"Licorice root has been found to target the specific bacteria that causes tooth decay," Tallman said.