Trentesaux Thomas, Delfosse Caroline, Rousset Monique Marie, Hervé Christian, Hamel Olivier
Medical Ethics and Legal Medicine Laboratory, Paris Descartes University, Research in Ethics Network, INSERM, EA 4569, Paris, France,
Cult Med Psychiatry. 2014 Mar;38(1):5-12. doi: 10.1007/s11013-013-9356-5.
Dental caries is a multifactorial condition that remains a major public health issue in high income countries. The prevalence of dental caries in children has markedly declined in most countries over the past 30 years. However, the disease continues to affect a vulnerable population defined as a high-risk group. As many public health policies are inefficient in dealing with this underprivileged group, it is necessary to find other strategies to decrease the incidence and the burden of dental caries. Defining dental caries as a chronic disease enables us to develop the concept of 'therapeutic patient education.' It is meant to train patients to self-manage or adapt treatment to their particular chronic disease and to cope with new processes and skills. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach to dental caries, in particular to early childhood caries. That should decrease the gravity and prevalence of the disease in this specific population. As a result, this new approach could increase the quality of life of many children both in terms of function and aesthetics.
龋齿是一种多因素疾病，在高收入国家仍然是一个主要的公共卫生问题。在过去30年里，大多数国家儿童龋齿的患病率已显著下降。然而，这种疾病继续影响着被定义为高危人群的弱势群体。由于许多公共卫生政策在应对这一弱势群体方面效率低下，有必要寻找其他策略来降低龋齿的发病率和负担。将龋齿定义为一种慢性病使我们能够发展“治疗性患者教育”的概念。它旨在训练患者自我管理或使治疗适应其特定的慢性病，并应对新的流程和技能。本文的目的是提出一种治疗龋齿的新方法，特别是针对幼儿龋齿。这应该会降低这种特定人群中该疾病的严重程度和患病率。因此，这种新方法可以在功能和美观方面提高许多儿童的生活质量。
