1979 Volume 29 Issue 3 Pages 291-298
For caries prevention, the NaF tablets chewing method was introduced to 1, 233 children (626 boys and 607 girls) at a certain primary school in Ibaragi Prefecture.
In this study, the residual fluoride amount and rate in the mouth after chewing two tablets which contained 0.905 mg of fluoride were determined with an ion meter (Orion, model 407 A) using a fluoride ion activity electrode. (Orion, model 94-09)
The amount and rate of residual fluoride in the mouth was 0.319 mg (35.2%) in boys, 0.295 mg (32.6 %) in girls, and 0.307mg (33.9%) in the whole sample. The maximum retention was 0.819 mg (90.5%) and the minimum was 0.030 mg (3.3%), and the standard deviation was 0.110 mg (12.1%). 789 children (60%) had a retention rate between 20-40%.
These findings indicate that the amount and rate of fluoride in mouth were remarkably different by class, grade and sex. But these results can be considered standard, since the method has been used for more than six years under the direction of school health officials.
