title: The early childhood caries prevention program in Palau.
abstract: Early Childhood Caries is a significant public health problem in Palau. Data have shown that nearly 80% of children ages 3-5 years of age in Palau experience dental caries and a significant number of these children require general anesthesia to treat or remove painful or infected carious teeth. In response to this growing problem, the Division of Oral Health has systematically developed a prevention program in collaboration with the Maternal and Child Health Unit under the Ministry of Health. The core program involves integrating preventive oral health services into all regular prenatal and postnatal care programs and improving the capacities of health professionals to provide such services. The program promotes the idea that oral health is an important component to overall health and all efforts are made to integrate oral health into broader public health initiatives. Both health and process outcomes are being monitored by an oral health surveillance system, while preliminary data show improved oral health among young children. This paper takes a closer look at the development of the Palau program.
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Health, Ministry of Health, Koror, Palau. dental@palaunet.com
authors.forename: A Keith
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Larson
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D019029:Palau; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care; D011313:Preventive Dentistry; D016730:Program Development