October 24, 2012
In August, the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future met in Hong Kong for the third year as part of the FDI Annual World Dental Congress.
The Alliance was started as a global initiative in September 2010 and the goal, according to a press release published in August, is to “challenge global leaders and other regional and local stakeholders to take action against caries, and specifically early stages of the disease process which might go on to form cavities, but which can be prevented and controlled before developing to that stage.”
With the meeting having just concludedand a new chapter recently installed in China, I spoke with Dr. Nigel Pitts, Chairman of the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future (ACFF) about the past two years and what’s in store for the Alliance in the future.
Lauren Burns: Since the campaign began, chapters have been launched in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and Venezuela. How does the Alliance decide where to install a chapter?
Dr. Nigel Pitts: It goes on quite a complex matrix, advised by the expert panel in terms of where we think there is a need and a particular scope for improving caries and getting caries prevention going. The location depends on the contacts we have in the academic network, the support we have in the region, and the burden of the disease. Now countries are coming to us and requesting chapters. That’s helpful.
Burns: This is from a press release issued on August 31: “Today, the Alliance challenges global leaders and other regional and local stakeholders to take action against caries, and specifically early stages of the disease process…” In what ways are leaders being encouraged to “take action?”
Dr. Pitts: The goals that we have are around trying to make sure that the research that we know is translated into practice and policy. Much of the research that we know about caries has been known in the scientific area for some time, but the big issue is getting a dialogue going both inside and outside of dentistry: in the areas of medicine, public health and with communities. We’re trying to get leaders to engage with local alliances, bringing together any suitable groups that can work together with a common purpose: to “stop caries now for a cavity-free future.” We try to demystify tooth decay and caries/cavity prevention a bit – the dental and scientific community are doing really important work, but sometimes they don’t stop and engage with the community enough.
Burns: What do you think of the Kids’ Healthy Mouths campaign in the U.S.?
Dr. Pitts: We had a meeting of our Alliance Expert Panel in Washington, D.C. last week and we were sharing information from around the world. Part of what we’re trying to do is use theACFF websiteto bring together as many of these initiatives as case studies or examples, so that people can share those simple, but powerful, resources. The Kids’ Healthy Mouths campaign sounds like an excellent idea. We found in Europe that a number of children didn’t have access to fluoride toothpaste. By turning that around and providing advice in schools with brushes and fluoride toothpaste, were seeing real improvements. We’re also trying to link up with what’s going on in the U.S. and eventually we hope to install a chapter in the U.S.
Burns: The Alliance’s most recent chapter opened in September of this year in China. What are some of the tactics to improve dental education and prevention you’ll use in China, specifically?
Dr. Pitts: It’s looking at fluoride use, it’s looking at explaining to dental educators about the early stages of caries, where the disease can be arrested, stopped, and remineralized, or turned around. What we’re trying to get people to grasp is that there is a lot we can do to prevent caries starting, but they can also act in the early stages of the disease process – with secondary prevention – treating early stages of decay when the surface of the tooth is still intact and we can stop a hole – a cavity – from ever taking place.
In the U.S., cavity and caries are seen as the same thing. But there are stages that happen before you get a cavity, where you can turn the disease around and not get a cavity. In Europe, that’s not an issue because the early stages are recognized more widely.
These differences in how we talk and think about tooth decay around the world exist, so it’s really important that we have regional chapters that can communicate effectively to the region they’re in. This is why we have both a global expert panel – to help us identify what needs to be communicated – and also the Regional ACFF chapters – who can communicate effectively with stakeholders in their regions.
