The public health significance of diseases that are rarely fatal is determined by their impact on quality of life and their cost to society. Health-related quality of life is now at the forefront of national health policy and has been embodied in national health targets. Objectives: To review population-based studies of oral health related quality […]

This presentation will address the current of occupational distribution in the provision of oral health services and possible future senarios for multidisciplinary oral health teams. Factors influencing the distribution in the future, including trends in oral health status, inequalities in access to care, population demographics, labour force projections and the relationship between oral health and […]

The use of priority setting in public health services experiencing high levels of demand is accelerating in the U.K, Canada and NZ. In 2000, NSW Oral Health Branch implemented the Priority Oral Health Program (POHP). The rationale for POHP is to provide access to public oral health services to patients in a timely, rational, clinically […]

Health card holders are a financially disadvantaged group, and are the target population eligible for public-funded dental care. The aims of this study were to compare changes in caries experience among public-funded dental patients over time. Patients were sampled randomly by State/Territory dental services in 1995-96 (n=6,109) and 2001-02 (n=5,196). Dentists recorded oral health measures […]

Research objectives: To consider what factors impact on human resource shortages across the public sector oral health team in NSW. Study design: Nine focus groups with the professions constituting the oral health team (dental officers, dental therapists, dental nurses, dental prosthetists and technicians) were conducted in NSW (4 regional, 5 metropolitan) in late 2001.  Principal findings:All four […]

Existing conceptual frameworks that explain the social distribution of oral health in populations have emphasised the importance of behavioural factors. However, while associated with oral health, behavioural factors do not explain the mechanisms by which social position affects oral health. Objectives: (1) To evaluate the contribution of psychosocial factors in explaining subjective oral health; and […]

Data about prevalence of ECC among children younger than 4 years are not routinely collected in the child’s dental surveys. However Wyne (CAFHS, Professional Digest, Nov. 1990) found the prevalence of the ECC was 16.7% (noncavitated lesions) among 2-3 year olds in SA. Reports on hospitalisation for treatment of oral disease also indicate that this […]

Objectives: To identify dentist- and practice-inputs that influence productivity in private general dental practice, and to describe trends in economic productivity as indexed by patients een per day (PPD), per dentist. Methods: The project is based on established data from the Longitudinal Study of Dentists Practice Activity (LSDPA), in which Australian general practitioner dentists in private practice […]

Inequalities in oral health and access to dental services are major issues in public health in Australia. Adults eligible for publicly funded dental care are either presenting for emergency dental care (EDC) or are spending longer on waiting lists for general dental care (GDC). Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of public […]

Objective: The prevalence of caries in Australian children has declined appreciably since recordings commenced at the conclusion of the Second World War. In the period 1945-1955, 12-year-old DMFT scores were recorded as ranging between an average of 7 and 12 teeth. In 1998, children caries experience reached an historical low: 6-year-old mean dmft was 1.51 […]