Dental Public Health

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This is a specialist form of dentistry focusing on the spread of oral disease, promoting oral health and providing the public with dental information. Dental public health workers’ role is to care for the community and try to improve the health of an area rather than the role of a dentist which is to treat the individual. They aim to educate people in hygiene and oral disease and help to promote dental health through looking at societal and behavioural factors.

Dental Public Health Specialist Role

Every region will have a Dental Public Health specialist, and their role is to integrate dental care into the region so that the population can be given appropriate care. Often they will be a part of academia, working within a university or college and will teach their skills as a part of the students overall course. A dental Public Health specialist ought to:

Assess the dental needs of their community
Develop oral health policies
Provide services/campaigns and information to help promote good dental health