A dental student wants to test if fluoride is an effective additive against tooth decay.The student studies tooth decay in a population of people who live in neighborhoods supplied with fluoridated water.This student would like to ask whether access to fluoridated water prevents tooth decay.What would be an effective control group to ask this question?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The best control group would be individuals with access to water with no fluoride added (Option D). This control group would allow for comparison between the incidence of tooth decay in the population with access to fluoridated water and those without access to fluoridated water. Option A would not provide a control group as everyone in the population would have access to fluoridated water. Option B would introduce a confounding variable as individuals would be exposed to differing amounts of fluoride. Option C would not be an effective control as individuals would be receiving fluoride from another source (toothpaste), making it difficult to attribute any differences in tooth decay solely to access to fluoridated water.

A Dental Student Wants to Test If Fluoride Is an Effective