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Objectives: The aim of this project was to investigate edentulism and dental caries in nursing home residents in Victoria, Australia., Background: The Australian population is ageing with a growing number of people living in nursing homes. These residents are at increased risk for dental caries, have more teeth present now than at any time in the past 50 years and often have difficulty maintaining adequate oral hygiene., Materials and Methods: Clinical dental examinations were conducted at 31 nursing homes in Melbourne and regional Victoria between May 2005 and June 2006. A total of 510 residents were examined out of 1345 eligible participants. Socio-demographic and medical history was collected via questionnaire., Results: Just over half of the residents were dentate (53.9%), and dentate residents had a mean of 14.4 teeth present and 2.66 untreated decayed teeth. Residents who required total assistance with oral hygiene had more decayed teeth and fewer filled teeth than residents who did not require assistance., Conclusions: Nursing home residents in Victoria are retaining an increasing number of natural teeth and have more tooth surfaces at risk for dental caries. Untreated dental caries was a significant problem for residents, particularly for those who are dependent on others for their daily oral hygiene care., (© 2011 The Gerodontology Society and John Wiley & Sons A/S.)

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of specific oral diseases in a Vietnamese background population living in Melbourne, Australia, and to compare these findings to existing oral health data., Methods: One hundred and fifty-eight subjects of Vietnamese background, 18 and older, participated in the study., Results: Subjects were clinically examined, in a cross-sectional study, using standard World Health Organization criteria. The mean decayed, missing and filled surfaces scores were 27.8 (26.1). With the exception of one person, all subjects displayed clinical signs of gingivitis and 39 per cent had shallow pockets. Complex periodontal therapy was required by about 5 per cent of the sample. Comparing these findings to existing data on oral health in Melbourne, subjects in the study had lower DMFS scores, a higher number of untreated decayed surfaces and higher prevalence of gingivitis but less need for advanced periodontal treatment., Conclusions: These findings, in terms of dental caries and periodontal disease, represent a more encouraging oral health situation than that previously described in this immigrant population. Inequalities within the present sample were not reflected in the overall caries experience but were reflected in the proportion of unmet restorative needs. Further research is needed to get a clearer picture of the factors that shape the oral health of migrant Vietnamese populations and expansion of this research into other migrant groups is also necessary.

Objective: To determine the efficacy and effectiveness of a primary preventive dental programme., Design: A field trial comparing an intervention and control group over three years. The intervention group received a preventive programme which consisted of a weekly fluoride mouthrinse (0.2% neutral NaF), an annual application, replacement or repair of pit and fissure sealants, and an annual oral hygiene education programme. The control group received the oral hygiene education programme only. Examinations to record dental caries status were conducted annually for both study groups., Setting: Five secondary colleges in two non-fluoridated regions of Victoria, Australia., Subjects: 522 subjects aged 12-13 years and considered at high risk of developing dental caries were recruited for the study; 256 received the preventive programme and 266 acted as controls., Outcome Measures: Dental caries was diagnosed according to World Health Organization criteria., Results: Subjects in the intervention group who completed the three-year preventive programme (efficacy) incurred an average of 1.49 fewer decayed, missing or filled tooth surfaces than the control group. The difference was highly statistically significant. The programme also had a statistically significant impact when analysed by intention-to-treat (effectiveness), even when it was assumed that subjects lost to follow-up received minimal future benefit. Approximately 70% of the improvement in oral health was in the pit and fissure surfaces, with the remainder in the smooth surfaces., Conclusion: A comprehensive preventive dental programme introduced into adolescent populations at high risk of developing dental caries can result in significant improvements in their dental health. Further research is required to clarify the public health impact of school-based fluoride mouth rinsing.

A primary preventive dental programme targeting adolescents living in non-fluoridated areas of Victoria, Australia was evaluated for a three-year period. The programme comprised annual placement or replacement/repair of fissure sealants combined with a weekly 0.2 per cent sodium fluoride mouthrinse and was evaluated in terms of acceptance by the providers and the community to which it was directed. Acceptance was measured using accessibility, availability, continuity, quality of care, role responsibility, provider and consumer satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness. In general, the programme was considered to represent an acceptable model for future preventive interventions, although there were areas of its design that were found to require improvement. In particular, deficiencies in the manner in which the fluoride mouthrinsing component was delivered indicate that further investigation would be required before a recommendation to adopt its use could be made.

Changing patterns of oral health were investigated in a selected population of children and adolescents in Heidelberg, Victoria. Oral health was examined in terms of caries experience, oral hygiene and gingival condition. The findings were compared with the results of a study conducted in the same area 10 years previously. The findings were also related to sociodemographic variables such as age, sex, and ethnic and socioeconomic background. A random sample of 403 children and adolescents aged 6-8 years, 11-13 years, and 14-16 years were selected from 5 primary schools and 3 secondary schools in the area. A questionnaire eliciting sociodemographic information was administered and an intra-oral examination was conducted on each subject. Dental caries was recorded in terms of DMF-T. Oral hygiene was assessed by the Plaque Index and gingival status by the Gingival Index. Results showed that subjects from this study demonstrated improved oral health compared with subjects from the previous study. In 1981, 25 per cent of 6-8 year olds and 9 per cent of 14-16 year olds were caries free. In 1991, 92 per cent of 6-8 year olds and 36 per cent of 14-16 year olds were caries free. Predictably, it was also found that age was significantly related to caries level, oral hygiene and gingival condition.

Indonesia is a developing country with few dental services and a population at risk to deteriorating oral health. Five hundred and ninety-one 12 and 15 year-old children drawn from a low fluoride (F- less than 0.1 ppm) urban area of Jakarta, Indonesia were examined for dental caries, fluorosis, and periodontal diseases. In addition, a questionnaire was administered investigating socio-demographic background, use of dental services, and preventive oral care. Although the severity of dental caries experience was moderate, untreated caries on the occlusal surface formed the highest proportion of the dental caries experience. CPITN examination revealed a large proportion of the subjects had calculus as their highest score, combined with a substantial number of sites which exhibited bleeding on probing. Questionnaire data revealed a high home use of fluoridated toothpaste by the subjects but a predominant use of dental services for pain relief. Findings from this study suggest a need for primary preventive programmes focusing on occlusal sealants and plaque control.

Recent studies have shown a decline in the caries experience in Australian children. It has also been shown that a number of socio-demographic variables are associated with risk of caries experience. The aims of the present study were to identify changes in caries experience and the association of socio-demographic variables with risk of caries experience in five- and six-year-old children over the period 1977 to 1985. In 1985, a sample of 174 children resident in the municipality of Brunswick, a suburb of Melbourne, was examined. A similar sample was drawn from the same area in 1977. The percentage of children caries-free had greatly increased, while caries experience had decreased. Parental birthplace, occupation and ethnicity were associated with caries experience in 1977 and were used to control for socio-demographic changes in the samples between the two survey times. In 1985 exposure to water fluoridation was also associated with caries experience. The study highlighted the improvement in dental health of five- and six-year-old children in Melbourne since 1977 and the consistency of associations between socio-demographic variables and 'at risk' children.

Dental health education attempts to change behaviour by altering an individual's knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about health matters. Perception of vulnerability to illness and dental disease is a central, but poorly understood, health belief. In this study of 303 New Zealand and 297 Australian schoolchildren perceived vulnerability was measured by the degree of expectancy to which subjects believed they would contract health problems. The pattern of health problem expectancy was consistent across age groups, cultures, and other demographic divisions. High expectancies of general health problems and dental caries were associated with potential preventive dental visits and with potential denture wearing. New Zealand schoolchildren, and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, had higher expectancies of general health problems and dental caries than Australian or middle class children.

Since 1975, more than 100,000 Indo-Chinese refugees from Vietnam, Kampuchea, and Laos have been resettled in Australia. This dental survey was undertaken to compare the dental health of 104 Australian-born and 126 Indo-Chinese adolescents from a State high school within a high migrant area of Melbourne. The mean DMFT score for the Australian-born group was 3.37 teeth, compared with 6.05 for the Vietnamese group, and 3.10 for the Kampuchean-Laotian group. More restorations and extractions were required by the Vietnamese subjects compared with the Australian-born and Kampuchean-Laotian subjects. Almost all subjects had gingivitis, however the proportion of Indo-Chinese subjects with shallow and deep pockets was greater than that of the Australian-born subjects. The periodontal health of the Kampucheans and Laotians was the most severe of the Indo-Chinese groups. These findings indicate that the Indo-Chinese adolescent refugees represent a high risk group for dental problems within the Australian population.

Three hundred and ten children from three schools were examined before and after a dental health promotion program targeted at one of the schools. Parents of subjects at the experimental school were visited at home by a community health worker who provided individualized information on dental services and preventive strategies. Parents of subjects at the control school were provided with similar information by way of general written documentation, not tailored to specific needs, and distributed as part of the traditional school take home system. The experimental hypothesis proposed that, at re-examination, subjects from the experimental school would show a measurable improvement in caries increment, and a reduced plaque index over subjects from the control schools. Although the individualized social intervention strategy did not demonstrate a major shift in use of dental services or improvement in health status some improvement in caries experience was obtained in the target group. The multifactorial nature of dental disease and the limited contact of the health worker with the families involved would account for the low success rate of this strategy.

There have been few epidemiological studies in China which have randomly selected subjects for examination. This study randomly selected 240 subjects aged 6 and 12 years from six schools in the Haidian District of Beijing, China. Examiners were calibrated and used standardised light sources and methods. Five per cent of the 6 year old children and 54 per cent of the 12 year old children were caries free. The dental caries treatment needs for 6 year old children were substantially greater in quantity and complexity than the needs of those aged 12 years. School based preventive and treatment programmes directed against the differing requirements of the age groups and supported by community-wide strategies for prevention appear as dental health matters of urgency in China.