commentary C D A J O U R N A L , V O L 4 9 , Nº 5
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Oral Health of California’s Children: A Commentary on the Status and Future Directions Jayanth Kumar, DDS MPH, and Jared Fine, DDS, MPH
AUTHORS Jayanth Kumar, DDS, MPH, is the state dental director, Office of Oral Health and the Center for Healthy Communities, California Department of Public Health. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported.
Jared Fine, DDS, MPH, became dental health administrator for the Alameda County Department of Public Health in 1975, a position he held until his retirement in 2014. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported.
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ssessment that identifies key health needs and issues through systematic, comprehensive data collection and analysis is a key function in public health. It gives health departments, dental organizations and their partners the information to help with developing plans to achieve a community’s objective. Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease in children and often the greatest unmet need with profound disparities in the population.1 Therefore, maintaining an ongoing understanding of tooth decay prevalence, distribution in the population and the factors that influence the development of the disease is paramount to its prevention and control and in achieving the fullest potential of health for individuals. However, dentistry lacks a mechanism for routinely gathering data on disease and on oral health outcomes, constituting a major challenge for performing the key assessment function in public health. To address this, the 2012
California Dental Association Access Report recommended the establishment of a system for surveillance and oral health reporting and followed up with advocacy that resulted in significant support for oral health in the 2016 Tobacco Tax initiative.2 This among others provided the support for implementing the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors Basic Screening Survey protocol.
Promotion of Policies, Enhancements of Programs and Improvements in the Oral Health Status of Children
In this issue of the Journal, Darsie et al. report a noticeable reduction in tooth decay experience and untreated decay and an increase in dental sealant prevalence among third grade children in public schools.3 Historically, California has had high prevalence of tooth decay. A survey of third grade children conducted in 2004–05 showed that only Arkansas had a higher prevalence of tooth decay experience than California.4 M AY 2 0 2 1
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