Petersen P E
Department for Community Dentistry and Graduate Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Proc Finn Dent Soc. 1992;88(1-2):13-23.
The paper presents an overview of the oral health situation in Denmark with consideration to the effectiveness of dental health care services to children, adolescents, and adults. According to the Act on Dental Health consolidated in 1986, the Municipal Dental Service provides systematic preventive and curative care free of charge to the child population and adolescents. The adults are responsible for a substantial part of the payments at the private dental practitioners but some of the payments, in particular the curative services, are covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme. The Municipal Dental Service is attended by nearly 100%. In order to plan and evaluate the service, a standardized recording system has been established. Thereby, national oral epidemiological data have been provided since 1972. Partly due to the preventive approach, a general decrease over-time in the prevalence of dental caries has been documented for children and adolescents. For example, in 1972 children in first class had a mean caries experience of 12.4 def-s against 3.9 def-s in 1990. Moreover, the distribution of dental caries has become even more skewed which means that an increasing number of the children are free of caries while a limited number of the children still show a significant caries experience. According to interview data from 1987, 72% of the adult population 16 years of age and above reported regular dental visits at least once a year. The proportion of regular dental visitors were high in 16-24-years-old (92%) but lower in the age group 65-74 (35%). In 1982, clinical epidemiological data were collected as part of a national oral health survey. The results indicated that the amount of untreated dental caries and the number of missing teeth were significantly lower among regular dental visitors than irregulars. As to periodontal health, treatment needs were also prominent among regular dental visitors. In a longitudinal survey, over-time changes in the occurrence of denture wearers have been observed. In 1976, 30% of the 35-44-year-olds were denture wearers against 11% in 1986. One important finding from this survey was that social inequality in oral health seems to be reduced in younger adults. Finally, experiences from implementation of health education and preventive dental care in industrial settings are discussed, and the health outcome of a comprehensive public dental health care programme for old-age pensioners is reviewed.
本文概述了丹麦的口腔健康状况，并考量了牙科保健服务对儿童、青少年和成年人的有效性。根据1986年合并的《牙齿健康法案》，市政牙科服务为儿童和青少年免费提供系统的预防和治疗护理。成年人在私人牙科诊所就诊需支付大部分费用，但部分费用，特别是治疗服务费用，由国家健康保险计划支付。市政牙科服务的就诊率接近100%。为了规划和评估该服务，已建立了标准化的记录系统。由此，自1972年以来已提供了全国口腔流行病学数据。部分由于预防措施，已记录到儿童和青少年龋齿患病率随时间普遍下降。例如，1972年一年级儿童的平均龋齿经历为12.4颗龋失补牙，而1990年为3.9颗龋失补牙。此外，龋齿分布变得更加不均衡，这意味着越来越多的儿童没有龋齿，而只有少数儿童仍有明显的龋齿经历。根据1987年的访谈数据，72%的16岁及以上成年人口报告每年至少定期看一次牙医。16 - 24岁人群中定期看牙医的比例很高（92%），但65 - 74岁年龄组的比例较低（35%）。1982年，作为全国口腔健康调查的一部分收集了临床流行病学数据。结果表明，定期看牙医者的未治疗龋齿数量和缺牙数量明显低于不定期看牙医者。至于牙周健康，定期看牙医者的治疗需求也很突出。在一项纵向调查中，观察到了假牙佩戴者发生率随时间的变化。1976年，35 - 44岁人群中有30%佩戴假牙，而1986年为11%。该调查的一项重要发现是，年轻成年人中口腔健康方面的社会不平等似乎在减少。最后，讨论了在工业环境中实施健康教育和预防性牙科护理的经验，并回顾了一项针对养老金领取者的全面公共牙科保健计划的健康成果。
