A Community-Based Programme in Oral-Health Education Targeted at Pre-School Children and Their Caregivers in Hong Kong

Download or read book A Community-Based Programme in Oral-Health Education Targeted at Pre-School Children and Their Caregivers in Hong Kong written by Man-Wai Yeung and published by Open Dissertation Press. This book was released on 2017-01-26 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation, "A Community-based Programme in Oral-health Education Targeted at Pre-school Children and Their Caregivers in Hong Kong" by Man-wai, Yeung, 楊敏慧, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Early childhood caries is a condition of rapidly progressing rampant dental caries in infants and young children. It is considered as a major public health problem affecting pre-school children and it is the most common dental disease which affects 28% of children within two to five years of age. ECC not only induces pain and discomfort, but can also affect communication, nutrition status, learning abilities, speech and quality of life, which may progress into adulthood and pose a heavy burden on the healthcare system in long-term. In Hong Kong, over 50% of children were affected by dental caries in 2001 but over 70% of children had never been to a dentist for a regular check up at age five. Thus, much of the tooth decay was remained undetected and untreated. Dental caries can be preventable and achievable. Collaboration between families, early care and health care professionals is required to promote effective oral health care. Numerous studies have found that educational programs and workshops are effective in promoting oral health and can provide children a lifelong opportunity to be free from preventable oral disease. In order to promote oral health to achieve the mission of the Department of Health in Hong Kong- at least 65% of 5 years old children are free from caries by the year 2020, an evidence-based guideline for a community-based programme in oral health education was developed in the proposed setting after a critical appraisal of the reviewed evidence. The comprehensive intervention plan, including communication plan with stakeholders, training of staffs and pilot testing will be carried out to facilitate the implementation of the innovation. The oral health programme will be evaluated for its effectiveness in achieving the patient outcomes, health providers' outcomes and system outcomes in the proposed settings. DOI: 10.5353/th_b4833943 Subjects: Dental health education - China - Hong Kong Preschool children - Dental care - China - Hong Kong