The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

‘Excess fluoride can cause dental fluorosis’
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 17
No doubt dentists recommend administration of fluoride for healthier teeth, be it through toothpaste, milk or water, but limits exceeding its optimum level could have serious effects as is being witnessed in 19 states of the country, including Punjab, Haryana and Himachal.

“Dental fluorosis is a condition caused by administering high level of fluorosis, which leads to skeletal and soft tissue problems and discolouration of the teeth, which if untreated for a long period of time could cause paralysis,” warns Dr Sameer Dutta, Professor and Head of Perodontics at the Government Dental College and Hospital , Rohtak.

He said if the fluoride content is more than 1ppm , there could be serious problems, which could further complicate into paralysis and hardening of joints and ligaments. “Though no study has been conducted so far on this disturbing aspect but the available data indicates that this problem called “dental fluorosis” is endemic to 19 states in India,” he further elaborates.

He added that the most disturbing fact was that the problem was increasing as was evident from the number of patients coming to private dentists as well as in government hospitals. He said the reason for this problem was the higher level of fluoride in the water being consumed by the people of these areas.

While agreeing on the adverse effects of high fluoride content, dentists recommend that the safest and most cost effective method is the regular use of a fluoridated tooth paste. “No doubt a toothpaste is a vehicle for fluoride but at the same time the fact remains that administration of higher level of fluoride could lead to side effects like staining and dental fluorosis,” said Dr Poul Erik Peterson, Special Officer, Oral Health at World Health Organisation headquarter at Geneva in Switzerland.

Dr Peterson said there were a number of ways of administering fluoride through adjustment in water, milk, toothpaste and its professional application, but the most safe and cheapest was through regular brushing with a fluoridated toothpaste. He said fluoridated toothpaste had a proven record all over the world of protecting teeth against decay leading to caries.

Prof M.S. Duggal, from the Division of Child Dental Health, Leeds Dental Institute, UK, said the problem in India was that there was no culture of regular dental check up and people approached a dentist only if they have a problem. “While in the UK more than 65 per cent of the people go to a dentist regularly, in India this figure would not even be 10 per cent,” he says while stressing that dental care is yet to get priority in India.

He said that though India was at par with any other country be it in terms of expertise, equipment or technology, but the unfortunate part was that all this was confined in urban areas.

SPORTS

Jacob visits football academy
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 17
The Administrator, Lieut Gen JFR Jacob (retd), today paid a surprise visit to the Chandigarh Football and Hockey Academy to scrutinise the result cards of the students in academics.

Those who had scored poor grades got a soft reprimand from the General whereas those who had excelled in academics got a pat. General Jacob asked Sq Ldr Bhatia to engage some more tutors to give tuitions to the students who had fared badly. The Governor also visited a computer class being run in the academy.

General Jacob also appreciated the football players for doing well in recent tournament and called upon the hockey team to improve its performance. The hockey team pointed out that due to lack of practice on astroturf, they could not do well in the recent tournament. General Jacob said astroturf would be laid down by January which would give them an opportunity to practice of astroturf. The General also distributed sweets to them.

It was also an opportunity for General Jacob to play a game of table tennis with the kids, after having juice with them and inspecting the mess.

Nidhi Garg clinches tennis title
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, November 17
Nidhi Garg of Satluj Public School won the under-16 girls title in the IInd Satluj Open Tennis Championship which concluded this evening at Satluj Public School, Sector 4, Panchkula. Pooja Tyagi, also from the same school, was runner-up. Mr Krit Serai, Principal of the host school, gave away the prizes.

Results — Below-16 (boys): Sidharth (Stepping Stones) 1, Anshul Kadian (Hansraj Public-6) 2; below-14 (girls): Akanksha (Little Flower) 1, Aanchal (St Xavier’s) 2; below-14 (boys): Sidharth (Stepping Stones) 1, Anshul Kadian (Hansraj Public-6) 2.

Sadhika, Rajan win

Sadhika Kaushal of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, and Rajan of DAV Public School, Sector 8, emerged winners in the cadet girls and boys section titles in the 15th Stag Chandigarh State Table Tennis Championship played here today at Sector 23 TT hall.

Sadhika Kaushal defeated Meghna of DAV Public School, Sector 8, 11-3, 11-2, 8-11, 15-13, while Rajan of DAV Public School bagged the boys title by beating Sameer Singla of Manav Mangal School, Sector 21, at 11-6, 11-4, 11-7.

Yachting meet ends

First Punjab State Open Yachting championship concluded this evening at the Sukhna. In this two-day meet, 12 men and women teams took part. Lieut-General JFR Jacob (retd), Governor, Punjab, was the chief guest. He later called upon the Punjab Police to take up water sports in a big way as it has got good men and women players who could bring Punjab on the top in water sports. Mr S.M. Sharma, president of the Punjab Yachting Association, told that a 10-day training camp will be beginning at Pong Dam from November 20.

The results are: Ranbir Singh Rana, Gurjit Singh (Patiala) 1, Darshan Lal, Daljit Singh (82nd Bn PAP, Chd) 2, Narinder Kumar, Sudhir Kumar (13th Bn PAP) 3, Manphool Singh, Jatinder Kumar (Jalandhar) 4, Ashwani Kumar, Ashwani Joshi (Jalandhar) 5, and Ganesh Kumar, Kapil Deep Kaushal (Chandigarh) 6.

Sports meet

The Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bhaddal, organised its two-day annual sports meet which concluded last evening on the college premises. Mr Ramesh Dutt Sharma, Minister of State for Public Health and Family Welfare, Punjab was the chief guest and gave away the prizes. Mr Navneet Singh of IT (second year) and Nivedita of EIE (third year) were declared the best athletes among boys and girl sections, respectively. Later the chief guest was all praise for the reputation of the institute which has grown manifold during these years. Mr Gurcharan Singh, chairman, Kandi Friends Educational Trust, elaborated the progress made by the institute. Earlier, Dr R.S. Seehra, Director, IET, Bhaddal, and Mr IK Kataria, Principal, highlighted achievements of the college.

GCG-11 win

The MCM DAV College, Sector 36, and the Government College for Girls, Sector 11,Chandigarh, clinched the respective titles in the Panjab University Inter-college Hockey and Kho-Kho Championships which concluded here today at PU Campus grounds.

In hockey, GCG-11,Government College, Ludhiana, and the GGS College For Women, Chandigarh, got second, third and fourth place, respectively. In kho-kho, the GGS College for Women, Chandigarh, the Government College for Women, Ludhiana, and the SBBS Memorial College for girls, Moga, secured second, third and fourth place, respectively.

Cricket tourney

Fine performance by Amit Kakria (52 runs and 5 for 15) and Vishal Sahni (72 runs) helped Godrej Cricket Club in beating 3 BRD by 145 runs and enter the final of the IXth JAL Cup League Cricket Tournament played here today at DAV College grounds, Sector 10. GCC made 227 runs for five in 27 overs while 3 BRD were all out for 82 runs. In another tie, CY XI defeated IDS XI by nine runs.

Sandeep in final

Sandeep Duggal today made it to the senior billiards section final of the 19th NK Duggal Memorial Senior and Junior Billiards and Snooker Championship played here today. Sandeep outplayed Sumit Talwar. Duggal has already reached the senior snooker final.