Master degree in Epidemiology
PhD in Dentistry Associate
Professor and Chair of Community and Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Lisbon
Summary of the presentation
Caries prevention strategies are an integrant part of oral health promotion and may be divided in two distinct types: “population strategy” and “risk strategy”.
In risk strategy, preventive measures are applied only to the individuals considered to be at risk.
The adoption of a risk strategy has three premises:
- incidence must be relatively low;
- effective preventive measures suited for individuals at risk must be available;
- valid methods for assessing risk must exist.
Caries risk assessment may be carried-out for community programs or individual, dental office setting, interventions.
In the first case, the chosen method must be quick and simple to apply, and the outcome measure may be just a qualitative measure of risk.
In the dental office setting, risk assessment methods need to be more complex in order to offer guidance to the choice of individual preventive measures, to the modification or removal of existing risk factors, and to help establishing recall intervals.