Primary Oral Health Care in India: Vision or Dream?

Visit to the Dentist for Oral Health Prevention at "Age One": A proposed policy report from the Indian perspective

Early childhood caries is a major public health issue in India. The primary reason for poor oral health in children is a lack of awareness about the role of primary teeth and the importance of an early dental visit for infants and toddlers. The primary objectives of an early dental visit are to analyze the child's risk level, provide guidance to parents regarding proper oral hygiene measures, review dietary and eating habits, provide information regarding the infectivity of dental caries, review the risks of traumatic injuries and discuss factors which affect the development of occlusion. Through this paper, we are proposing an "Age One" policy that recognizes dentists, physicians, allied health professionals, community health-care workers, and nongovernmental organizations to work toward a child's overall health as partners to achieve this goal. The expectation is that this policy will provide guidance to childcare centers, pediatric dentists, other health-care professionals, and legislators regarding oral health activities and the promotion of oral health in infants. The purpose of the policy is to lay the foundation for a lifetime of preventive education and dental care, to help ensure optimal oral health beginning in childhood and continuing through the life course.

Integration of oral health into primary health care: A systematic review

Integration of oral health into primary health care holds the key to affordable and accessible health care as oral health is still a neglected component in many countries. This review aims to determine integration of oral health into primary health care and provide an evidence-based synthesis on a primary oral healthcare approach. Searches were conducted in various databases like Biomed Central, MEDLINE, Cochrane databases, NCBI (PubMed), Sci-Hub, Google Scholar, and WHO sites. The studies included in this review are according to the following eligibility criteria: the articles in English language, the articles published from January 2000 to October 2018, and only full text article. The search yielded 500 articles. After removal of duplicates: 410 articles screened based on title and abstract, 100 full text articles were assessed for eligibility, and 30 full text articles were included. This review showed evidence how oral health is related to general health: focused on common risk factor approach and bidirectional relationship. There are various ways of integration, such as interprofessional education, interprofessional collaborative practice, closed-loop referral process, and various public and private partnerships, and at the same time, there are a lot of barriers in integration. Thus, the primary oral health care needs to be developed as an integral part of primary health care. Consequently, there is a need to increase finance, health care workforce, government support, and public-private partnership to achieve the goal of affordable and accessible health care, i.e. health for all.