Changing oral hygiene attitudes and habits.

Up to the time of establishment (1962) of the Dental Health Education and Research Foundation, the philosophy and practice of preventive dentistry was almost unknown in Australia. Australians' dental health was generally as bad as any country in the world. Children were given little dental health instruction in schools. The majority of parents were seemingly uninformed about the need for the preservation and care of their own or their children's teeth. Dental Health Educators were trained to instruct school children in such subjects as diet, oral hygiene and plaque control. A Good Teeth Puppet Theatre was established and a special preventive dentistry orientated script written. A Mobile Dental Health Education Unit (caravan), equipped with a room darkened and lit by ultraviolet light, audiovisual instruction area and a mini laboratory, was built and set up in secondary schools. Pupils are encouraged to have their plaque disclosed using a yellow dye which becomes fluorescent when viewed under ultraviolet light; descriptive films are demonstrated and personal dental health instruction given. More than two and a half million children have participated in these programs. Evaluation studies of the school programs revealed that after six months children were able to recall more than 70% of the dental health message. Results of a recent WHO survey of the oral health status of 13-14-year-olds in Canterbury (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia), Trondelag (Norway), Yamanashi (Japan) and Hannover (West Germany) showed that the Sydney children had the lowest caries rate. The Sydney survey was carried out in the same are where the above Dental Health Education and Research Foundation community dental health programs operate.