The evidence indicates that dental therapists provide effective, quality, and safe care for children in an economical manner and are generally accepted both by the public and where their use is established, by the dental profession.
In 1921, New Zealand began training school dental nurses, subsequently deploying them throughout the country in school-based clinics providing basic dental care for children. The concept of training dental nurses, later to be designated dental therapists, was adopted by other countries as a means of improving access to care, particularly for children. This paper profiles six countries that utilise dental therapists, with a description of the training that therapists receive in these countries, and the context in which they practice. Based on available demographic information, it also updates the number of dental therapists practising globally, as well as the countries in which they practice. In several countries, dental therapy is now being integrated with dental hygiene in training and practice to create a new type of professional complementary to a dentist. Increasingly, dental therapists are permitted to treat adults as well as children. The paper also describes the status of a current initiative to introduce dental therapy to the United States. It concludes by suggesting that dental therapists can become valued members of the dental team throughout the world, helping to improve access to care and reducing existing disparities in oral health.
The Malay language version of the GOHAI demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability and will be an important instrument to measure oral health-related quality of life among Malay-speaking Malaysians. Use of the Malay language version GOHAI should also be pursued among diverse adult age groups.
PurposeHIV/AIDS poses a serious threat to young people, both in Malaysia and throughout the world. A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about HIV/AIDS among the Malaysian public. This article reports the findings of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among young adults.MethodsA total of 1075 young adult respondents aged 15–24 years participated in this survey. The response rate was 82.2%.ResultsThe data indicated that HIV/AIDS knowledge among the respondents was moderate, with a mean knowledge score of 20.1 out of 32 points. The great majority had adequate knowledge of the major routes of HIV transmission, but fewer were aware of other modes of transmission, such as tattooing and piercing, sharing personal items, and breast-feeding from an infected mother. The great majority knew that HIV is not transmitted by mosquito bites, sharing meals, casual contact, and using public swimming pools and toilets.ConclusionMisconceptions about HIV/AIDS exist although generally knowledge on HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention was accurate. Education and intervention programs are needed to increase the level of knowledge and awareness of HIV/AIDS. The findings have important implications for the development of primary HIV/AIDS prevention programs for young adults in Malaysia.
BackgroundThe study aimed to develop and test a Malay version of the Child-OIDP index, evaluate its psychometric properties and report on the prevalence of oral impacts on eight daily performances in a sample of 11–12 year old Malaysian schoolchildren.MethodsThe Child-OIDP index was translated from English into Malay. The Malay version was tested for reliability and validity on a non-random sample of 132, 11–12 year old schoolchildren from two urban schools in Kuala Lumpur. Psychometric analysis of the Malay Child-OIDP involved face, content, criterion and construct validity tests as well as internal and test-retest reliability. Non-parametric statistical methods were used to assess relationships between Child-OIDP scores and other subjective outcome measures.ResultsThe standardised Cronbach’s alpha was 0.80 and the weighted Kappa was 0.84 (intraclass correlation = 0.79). The index showed significant associations with different subjective measures viz. perceived satisfaction with mouth, perceived needs for dental treatment, perceived oral health status and toothache experience in the previous 3 months (p < 0.05). Two-thirds (66.7%) of the sample had oral impacts affecting one or more performances in the past 3 months. The three most frequently affected performances were cleaning teeth (36.4%), eating foods (34.8%) and maintaining emotional stability (26.5%). In terms of severity of impact, the ability to relax was most severely affected by their oral conditions, followed by ability to socialise and doing schoolwork. Almost three-quarters (74.2%) of schoolchildren with oral impacts had up to three performances affected by their oral conditions.ConclusionThis study indicated that the Malay Child-OIDP index is a valid and reliable instrument to measure the oral impacts of daily performances in 11–12 year old urban schoolchildren in Malaysia.
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