MJDF Dental Public Health & Evidence-Based Dentistry 4

Question 1

What is the role of the Office for Health Inequalities and Disparities (OHID) in UK dental public health?

Accepted Answer

Leads national oral health improvement programmes, produces 'Delivering Better Oral Health' toolkit, and monitors oral health outcomes

Answer

OHID (formerly PHE Dental Public Health) leads national oral health improvement initiatives, produces evidence-based resources including the 'Delivering Better Oral Health' toolkit, and monitors population oral health data.

Question 2

What is the Inverse Care Law as it relates to dental public health?

Accepted Answer

The availability of good dental care varies inversely with the need for it — those most in need have least access

Answer

Tudor Hart's Inverse Care Law states that those with greatest health need often receive the least health care; in dentistry, deprived communities have higher caries rates but fewer NHS dental practices and greater barriers to access.

Question 3

What is the purpose of school-based dental screening programmes in the UK?

Accepted Answer

Identify children with dental disease, refer for treatment, and provide epidemiological data — part of the BASCD survey programme

Answer

School dental surveys (conducted by BASCD methodology) provide national and local prevalence data on caries, and screening identifies children needing referral; they are a public health tool, not a treatment service.

Question 4

What is the key message of the 'common risk factor approach' in dental public health?

Accepted Answer

Risk factors for oral diseases (sugar, tobacco, alcohol, stress) are shared with general health conditions — addressing them simultaneously is more effective

Answer

The common risk factor approach recognises that dietary sugar, tobacco, and alcohol affect multiple conditions (dental caries, periodontal disease, oral cancer, obesity, diabetes, CVD) — dental teams addressing these contribute to general health improvement.

Question 5

What is the definition of 'incidence' vs 'prevalence' in dental epidemiology?

Accepted Answer

Incidence: rate of new cases over time; prevalence: proportion of population affected at a point in time

Answer

Incidence measures the rate of newly occurring disease cases over a defined period (risk of developing disease); prevalence measures all existing cases (new and old) at a specific point in time (current disease burden).

MJDF Part 1 Practice Test

MJDF Part 1 Practice Test

MJDF Dental Public Health & Evidence-Based Dentistry 4