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Attitudes concerning water fluoridation among Swedish dentists in 1975
Author(s) -
Petterson Elof O.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1981.tb01041.x
Subject(s) - water fluoridation , medicine , dental decay , dentistry , population , parliament , environmental health , oral health , law , fluoride , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , politics , political science
The purpose of the investigation was to assess the attitudes concerning water fluoridation among dentists actively engaged in the practice of dentistry in Sweden. A 25% random sample was selected from the aforementioned population of 6,669 dentists. A questionnaire was sent out by mail in 1974/75. The rate of return was 93%. A 99% confidence estimate indicated that 60–66% of Swedish dentists approved a water fluoridation; 58% would welcome fluoridation of their own community water supplies; 56% expressed a willingness to sign a petition to the Parliament requesting that water fluoridation again be permitted. Approximately 11 % were not certain about the effectiveness of water fluoridation in preventing dental decay. One‐third of the respondents were uncertain about the safety of the technical procedures; 20% were undecided concerning the possibility of combining procedures for topical application of fluorides with water fluoridation, and 15 % stated that topical application of fluorides could not be combined with water fluoridation. More than 19% were not able to report the F‐content of their own community water supplies.