Dental Public Health (DPH) is a non-clinical specialty of dentistry that deals with the prevention of oral disease and promotion of oral health. Dental public health is involved in the assessment of key dental health needs and coming up with effective solutions to improve the dental health of populations rather than individuals.
Prevention is becoming increasingly important. Dental related diseases are largely preventable and there is a growing burden on health care systems for cure. Dental public health looks beyond the role of a dental practitioner in treating dental disease, and seeks to reduce demand on health care systems by redirection of resources to priority areas. Countries around the world all face similar issues in relation to dental disease. Implementation of policies and principles vary due to available of resources. Similar to public health, an understanding of the many factors that influence health will assist the implementation of effective strategies.
Public health dentistry, is practiced generally through government sponsored programs, which are for the most part directed toward public-school children in the belief that their education in oral hygiene is the best way to reach the general public. The pattern for such programs in the past was a dental practitioners annual visit to a school to lecture and to demonstrate proper tooth-brushing techniques. The 1970s saw the emergence of a more elaborate program that included a week of one-hour sessions of instruction, demonstration, and questions and answers, conducted by a dentist and a dental assistant and aided by a teacher who had previously been given several hours of instruction. Use was also made of televised dental health education programs, which parents were encouraged to observe.
Scope of the Dental Public Health
Major areas of dental public health activity include:
- Oral health surveillance
National Oral Health Surveillance system (NOHSS) is designed to monitor the effects of oral disease on the population, as well as monitor how the oral care is delivered. Additionally the status of water fluoridation on both a state and a national level is continually supervised.
- Assessing the evidence on oral health and dental interventions, programmes, and services
- Policy and strategy development and implementation
- Oral health improvement
- Health and public protection
- Developing and monitoring quality dental services
- Dental public health intelligence
- Academic dental public health
- Role within health services