The Journal of the Philippine Dental Association最新文献

There is a compelling need to apply preventive programs in both private and community practice of dentistry. This is to maintain improvements in oral health in developed and industrialized countries, and to stem increases in oral diseases in underserved and developing ones. At the outset, the terms prevention and control must be understood. The former is considered to mean a procedure or course of action that prevents the onset of disease, whereas the latter, implies reversing or stabilizing disease conditions. To be more precise, prevention will refer to the pre-pathologic or pre-clinical stage encompassing the promotive and specific protection levels--primary prevention stage. On the other hand, control will encompass early diagnosis and prompt treatment, disability limitation and rehabilitation levels-termed also collectively, as pathologic, clinical and final stages, or secondary and tertiary prevention. Community-based programs are usually structured to compliment therapeutic interventions of oral diseases, as well as prevention. In this era, and towards the next millennium, preventive and control programs are given high priorities in order to minimize the need for curative, restorative and therapeutic management of oral diseases. This review of the literature will give emphasis on established methods and programs for the prevention and control of the two most common oral diseases, dental caries and periodontal disease. The problems, background, and oral health objectives for the year 2000 as proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI), as well as the recent advances in oral health relative to these diseases will be discussed. Finally, to better improve the efficacy of existing prevention and control methods, research needs and areas of concern relative to these diseases will be given consideration.

This study is a review of secondary data on the supply of dentists in the Philippines from information gathered from various governmental and non-governmental agencies. It was done to determine general trends in the supply and stock of dentists as well as have an overview of the oral health human resources in the country. Initial findings indicate an unequal distribution of dentists as well as a large amount of wastage in the production of dentists.

Sugar is the principal substrate for micro-organisms causing dental caries. Yet it is impossible to eliminate sugar in the diet as almost all available foods particularly snack foods contain sugar. WHO recommended 10 kg. sugar or 27.40 gms. per person per year in non-fluoridated area and 15 kg. sugar/person year in non-flouridated areas for low caries prevalence. The FFQ and 24-Hour Food recall of 824 rural and urban schoolchildren showed that all their snacks foods are high in sugar except gelatine. Their sugar intake was three times more than the WHO recommendation with a mean daily intake of 90 gms. for urban and 88 grams of sugar for the rural. White sugar, hard candies, raisins, coco jam, and milk choco were the five most commonly eaten snack foods with high sugar content. Oral examination of the schoolchildren showed that dental caries was higher in the urban than in the rural. As a whole, the urban schoolchildren consumed more sugar and had higher dental caries compared to the rural schoolchildren. No significant correlation was found between sugar intake and dental caries.