Search

Background. Caries risk assessment (CRA) tools could address oral health disparities and enhance the efficiency of the oral health care system. The authors aimed to explore the feasibility and limitations of using clinical CRA tools in informing oral health care policy-making processes. Methods. The authors used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to construct 10 CRA models from a sample of clinical CRA tools identified from the literature. They used these models to estimate the proportion of publicly insured people aged 1 through 20 years categorized as at low, moderate, and high risk, and they projected their oral health care costs. Results. The authors found substantial variation among the selected models in assigning risk levels. The weighted average proportions (range) of people categorized as at low, moderate, and high risk were 25% (0%-66%), 14% (0%-50%), and 61% (11 %-100%), respectively. Depending on the CRA model, the projected annual cost of covering this population ranged from $18 billion to $127 billion. Conclusions and Practical Implications. Developing a valid, evidence-based, accurate, and reliable population-based CRA model could address the variability among clinical CRA tools, improve estimates of dental disease burden, help design targeted oral public health programs, and enable comparative effectiveness analyses among oral health care interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic disease management (CDM) is a science-based approach that has been demonstrated in early studies to be effective in preventing and controlling dental caries in children. In this article, we describe how CDM can be introduced into contemporary clinical dental practice in which active and engaged dental providers can work as a team to support family behavior changes. We also discuss the role of silver diamine fl uoride in the CDM of caries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality improvement (QI) and measurement are increasingly used in health care to improve patient care and outcomes. Despite current barriers in oral health measurement, there are nascent QI and measurement efforts emerging. This paper describes the role that QI and measurement can play in improving oral health care delivery in clinical practice by presenting a QI initiative that aimed to test and implement a chronic disease management approach to address early childhood caries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently, the standard of care for early childhood caries (ECC) has been primarily surgical and restorative treatment with little emphasis on preventing and managing the disease itself. It is now recognized that surgical treatment alone does not address the underlying etiology of the disease. Despite costly surgeries and reparative treatment, the onset and progression of caries are likely to continue. A successful rebalance of risk and protective factors may prevent, slow down, or even arrest dental caries and its progression. An 18-month risk-based chronic disease management (DM) approach to address ECC in preschool children was implemented as a quality improvement (QI) collaborative by seven teams of oral health care providers across the United States. In the aggregate, fewer DM children experienced new cavitation, pain, and referrals to the operating room (OR) for restorative treatment compared to baseline historical controls. The teams found that QI methods facilitated adoption of the DMapproach and resulted in improved care to patients and better outcomes overall. Despite these successes, the wide scale adoption and spread of the DMapproachmay be limited unless health policy and payment reforms are enacted to compensate providers for implementing DM protocols in their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which examined the perceptions of parents about their own oral health, home oral hygiene practices, dietary habits, and those of their children. To identify opportunities for intervention, the study also explored the experiences of parents with their children's pediatrician and dentist. Early childhood caries (ECC) is considered a significant health problem and a marker of health disparity. One risk factor for ECC in children is poor parent oral health.

Background: Whether information sources influence health protective behaviours during influenza pandemics or other emerging infectious disease epidemics is uncertain. Methodology: Data from cross-sectional telephone interviews of 1,001 Hong Kong adults in June, 2009 were tested against theory and data-derived hypothesized associations between trust in (formal/informal) information, understanding, selfefficacy, perceived susceptibility and worry, and hand hygiene and social distancing using Structural Equation Modelling with multigroup comparisons. Principal Findings: Trust in formal (government/media) information about influenza was associated with greater reported understanding of A/H1N1 cause (β = 0.36) and A/H1N1 prevention self-efficacy (β = 0.25), which in turn were associated with more hand hygiene (β = 0.19 and β = 0.23, respectively). Trust in informal (interpersonal) information was negatively associated with perceived personal A/H1N1 susceptibility (β =20.21), which was negatively associated with perceived selfefficacy (β =20.42) but positively associated with influenza worry (β = 0.44). Trust in informal information was positively associated with influenza worry (β = 0.16) which was in turn associated with greater social distancing (β = 0.36). Multigroup comparisons showed gender differences regarding paths from trust in formal information to understanding of A/H1N1 cause, trust in informal information to understanding of A/H1N1 cause, and understanding of A/H1N1 cause to perceived self-efficacy. Conclusions/Significance: Trust in government/media information was more strongly associated with greater self-efficacy and handwashing, whereas trust in informal information was strongly associated with perceived health threat and avoidance behaviour. Risk communication should consider the effect of gender differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chemokines play important roles in inflammation and antiviral action. We examined whether polymorphisms of RANTES, IP-10 and Mig affect the susceptibility to and outcome of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Methods: We tested the polymorphisms of RANTES, IP-10 and Mig for their associations with SARS in 495 Hong Kong Chinese SARS patients and 578 controls. Then we tried to confirm the results in 356 Beijing Chinese SARS patients and 367 controls. Results: RANTES -28 G allele was associated with SARS susceptibility in Hong Kong Chinese (P < 0.0001, OR = 2.80, 95%CI:2.11-3.71). Individuals with RANTES -28 CG and GG genotypes had a 3.28-fold (95%CI:2.32-4.64) and 3.06-fold (95%CI:1.47-6.39) increased risk of developing SARS respectively (P < 0.0001). This -28 G allele conferred risk of death in a gene-dosage dependent manner (P = 0.014) with CG and GG individuals having a 2.12-fold (95% CI: 1.11-4.06) and 4.01-fold (95% CI: 1.30-12.4) increased risk. For the replication of RANTES data in Beijing Chinese, the -28 G allele was not associated with susceptibility to SARS. However, -28 CG (OR = 4.27, 95%CI:1.64-11.1) and GG (OR = 3.34, 95%CI:0.37-30.7) were associated with admission to intensive care units or death due to SARS (P = 0.011). Conclusion: RANTES -28 G allele plays a role in the pathogenesis of SARS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]