title: Community-specific, preventive oral health policies: preventive measures on dental caries.
abstract: In all health fields, limited infrastructure and resources hinder the provision of basic services to low-income populations. Subsequently, oral health is often neglected, as over 90% of caries remains untreated in developing communities. In order to deliver the most cost-effective prevention methods, public health officials must assess each available strategy on an individual community basis. In this paper, examples from oral health will demonstrate the importance of community-specific determinants in the formation of preventive public health policies. These determinants include economical, cultural, social, and political elements that can assist policy makers in generating effective functional public health policies.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. shahrokh.esfandiari@mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Shahrokh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esfandiari
authors.forename: Nekky
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jamal
authors.forename: Jocelyne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feine
mesh_terms: D002327:Cariostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003149:Community Dentistry; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005457:Fluoridation; D005459:Fluorides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D011050:Policy Making; D011313:Preventive Dentistry; D064890:Social Determinants of Health
chemical_list: D002327:Cariostatic Agents; D005459:Fluorides
keywords: community dentistry; dental caries; oral health; preventative dentistry; public health policies