Implementing a model school-based dental care service for children in southern China

Abstract

As in many developing countries, the oral health status of school children in China is far from adequate. In rural areas, resources for preventing and treating dental disease, as well as promoting proper dental health behavior are limited. In such situations, the World Health Organization has identified school-based programs as the most appropriate means of improving dental health conditions among children. A 3-year outreach dental service program based in four primary schools in a rural town in the Guangdong province of southern China has been developed and implemented since early 2003. This program involved 1096 primary grade 3 children, with a mean age of 9.7 years (standard deviation, 0.59 years). Both preventive and restorative dental services were provided in the program. Preliminary results of this program support the feasibility of implementing a new, affordable, and cost-effective school-based dental care service in a typical rural town in southern China to tackle the major oral health problems of children in developing countries: dental caries and poor oral hygiene.