Oral cancer is a rare cancer, but its incidence is on the rise, especially among men in their 60s. In addition, the number of women and young people affected by oral cancer has been recently increasing. Although the oral cavity can be inspected and touched not only by dental professionals but also by patients themselves, early detection of oral cancer is difficult, and 35.8% of patients have advanced cancer (stage 3 or 4) by the time they are referred to a major hospital. It is necessary to increase public awareness of oral cancer and to raise the awareness of dental health care professionals. This paper describes the current status of oral cancer in Japan, the differences from the past, and introduces new oral cancer countermeasures. In more concrete terms, the spread of oral cancer screening activities, early detection trials using fluorescent observation, and the introduction of an oral navigation system.

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Various bacterial species derived from different oral niches can be detected in saliva. Periodontal pocket is one such niche; with periodontal disease progression, the salivary counts of periodontal pocket-specific bacteria (those multiplying in periodontal pocket) may increase. Based on the above hypothesis, the proportion of periodontal pocket-specific bacteria, comprising 11 bacterial species, among salivary microbiota was determined in saliva specimen using the next-generation sequencing analysis; furthermore, the relationship between this proportion and periodontal disease condition was evaluated. The findings showed that the presence of ≥ 10–15 sites with a periodontal pocket depth ≥ 4 mm in study patients could be predicted with a sensitivity of 0.88 and specificity of 0.7, with the cut-off level of the proportion of periodontal pocket-specific bacterial species among salivary microbiota set at 0.139 percent. Conventional periodontal disease screening at mass health examinations using a periodontal probe is time and manpower consuming. Therefore, the bacterial examination of saliva specimen is expected to substitute the conventional periodontal examination and become a promising novel screening technique for periodontal disease.

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Community water fluoridation is the controlled adjustment of fluoride that occurs naturally in all water to optimal levels to prevent tooth decay. A number of systematic reviews and individual studies provide evidence that consumption of optimally fluoridated water at level recommended for dental health does not have an adverse effect on human. Fluoridation is a safe, effective, cost-saving and socially equitable evidence-based public health measure for all and is a powerful public strategy in efforts to eliminate health disparities among populations to reach everyone in the community regardless of age, education, income level or access to routine dental care. All health officials, health professionals and concerned citizens will be expected to join in the task of achieving community water fluoridation for all community drinking water supplies which lack the fluoride content needed for the prevention of dental caries.

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The development of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method has given significant progress in the research of the involvement of herpesviruses and periodontitis. The etiology of severe periodontitis includes active herpesviruses, specific bacterial pathogens, and destructive immune responses, but herpesviruses seem to be the major pathogenic determinant. Periodontal herpesviruses that enter the general circulation may contribute to disease development in various organ systems. Periodontal therapy that targets both herpesviruses and bacterial pathogens can provide long‐term clinical improvement and potentially reduce the risk of systemic diseases. This short communication highlights basic characteristics of herpesviruses and the relationship between herpesvirus-bacteria co-infection and periodontitis. Knowledge on periodontal herpesviruses may constitute an inflection point in the science and practice of periodontology.

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Background: In 2020, the entire world was forced to “live a life of self-restraint” to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), resulting in a dramatic change in lifestyle. On the other hand, reports of fears of COVID-19 transmission through dental care have raised concerns about the reluctance of patients to seek dental care. We conducted a questionnaire survey to clarify the influence of lifestyle changes and COVID-19 anxiety on dental visits. Methods: Between October 2020 and December 2020, we conducted a questionnaire survey of SPT patients at a general dental clinic in a local city. Questions were asked about GOHAI, K6, lifestyle, health status, subjective oral symptoms, and anxiety about dental visits. Results: 372 patients (mean age 55.38 years, 257 females and 115 males) responded to the questionnaire. 20.2% of the respondents were worried about infection in dental clinics, and 13.4% of the respondents felt uneasy about dental care due to media reports. Those who were anxious about infections in dental clinics had significantly lower oral-related quality of life and were more depressed than those who were not anxious. Discussion and summary: Those who were anxious about dental care tended to have a low oral-related QOL and may need to see a dentist.

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Dental caries or caries-related diseases have been reported to be the main cause of tooth loss, and prevention of dental caries in children is important. In this study, we investigated the effect of regular dental care on the prevention of dental caries in 6 clinics by comparing children who received regular dental care until the age of 12 years with those who visited the clinic for the first time at the age of 12 years. The results of the study suggested that continuous visits to the dentist from the age of 6 years significantly reduced the incidence of dental caries, indicating the importance of dental caries management from an early age. An analysis of the intervals of periodic caries management suggested that periodic management should be carried out at least every year. In addition, it was inferred those children with a large number of caries at the age of 6 years are more likely to stop coming to the clinic in the future, hence more proactive approaches needed.

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The present number of teeth and the rate of severe periodontal disease among elderly first-time patients in dental clinics were surveyed over the past 20 years. The subjects were 12,129 patients (male: 4,830, female: 7,299) aged 60-84 years at the time of their first visit, with basic information on age, sex, date of first visit, and date of birth, and with no apparent errors in the input records. The first-time patients were divided into five groups corresponding to every five years of age from 60 to 84 years old, and further divided into four period-groups in five-year periods from 2000 to 2019 to evaluate the changes in the number of current teeth and the rate of severe periodontal disease (the percentage of people with severely advanced periodontal disease) in first-time patients. The results showed that the number of current teeth increased significantly in the 2015-2019 group compared to the 2000-2004 period-group across all age groups except for the 60-64 year old male. Especially in females aged 65-69 years, there was a significant increase in the number of current teeth at first visits in all period-groups compared to the 2000-2004 period-group. For the male, age-groups of 70-79 years old, there was a significant increase in the post-2010 periods compared to the 2000-2004 period. The rate of severe periodontal disease decreased in both men and women aged 60-64 years, and significantly in women aged 75 years and above, and the rate of severe periodontal disease in women was over 5% less than that in men across all age groups in the 2015-2019 period.

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This survey was conducted to investigate oral health status of new patients at dental clinics practicing routine maintenance. Subjects were collected in anonymised digital format from Japan Health Care Dental Association (JHCDA) member clinics. The subjects of this 14th survey included 13,849 new patients (5,870 male and 7,979 female patients) who visited the 57 member clinics (across 25 prefectures) during the period between January 1st and December 31st, 2019. For children and minors, the DMFT scores were recorded, and for adults the DMFT scores, the number of remaining teeth, the condition of periodontal tissues and smoking status were recorded. As a result, the DMFT index continues to decrease in all age groups above 12 years, the marked decrease in male smokers continues in younger age groups, and the number of remaining teeth continues to increase in both men and women above 65 years of age.

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