NBDHE NBDHE Community Oral Health Principles 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which legislation mandates that states report oral health data to the CDC through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)?
- The Social Security Act
- The Public Health Service Act
- The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- There is no federal mandate; states participate voluntarily (Correct answer)
Correct answer: There is no federal mandate; states participate voluntarily
BRFSS is a voluntary state-based surveillance system; states choose to participate and submit oral health module data to the CDC.
Question 2: A positive predictive value (PPV) is most affected by:
- The test's sensitivity
- The test's specificity
- The prevalence of disease in the population tested (Correct answer)
- The skill of the examiner
Correct answer: The prevalence of disease in the population tested
PPV rises when disease prevalence is higher; even a highly sensitive test has low PPV in low-prevalence populations.
Question 3: Head Start and Early Head Start programs support oral health by:
- Providing orthodontic treatment for enrollees
- Requiring dental screenings and referrals for enrolled children (Correct answer)
- Administering fluoride injections on site
- Employing dental hygienists as lead teachers
Correct answer: Requiring dental screenings and referrals for enrolled children
Head Start performance standards mandate dental screenings and follow-up referrals for enrolled low-income children.
Question 4: The 'web of causation' model in epidemiology is best described as:
- A single direct pathway from exposure to disease
- Multiple interacting factors that together cause disease (Correct answer)
- A visual map of internet health information sources
- A statistical method to control confounding
Correct answer: Multiple interacting factors that together cause disease
The web of causation illustrates how complex, interrelated biological and social factors interact to produce disease outcomes.
Question 5: Which oral health indicator is tracked in the Healthy People 2030 objectives?
- Percentage of dentists using digital radiography
- Proportion of children aged 6–9 with dental sealants on molars (Correct answer)
- Number of dental schools accredited annually
- Average number of dental implants placed per year
Correct answer: Proportion of children aged 6–9 with dental sealants on molars
Healthy People 2030 includes an objective to increase the proportion of children aged 6–9 years who have dental sealants on their molars.
Question 6: In mass fluoride supplementation, the term 'herd effect' refers to:
- Livestock receiving fluoride through farm water
- Individual benefit from collective exposure reduction
- Protection of non-recipients due to reduced disease transmission (Correct answer)
- Community-wide dietary fluoride consumption
Correct answer: Protection of non-recipients due to reduced disease transmission
While primarily used for infectious disease, in fluoridation contexts 'herd effect' broadly means non-recipients benefit from community-wide reductions in disease burden.
Question 7: The principle of justice in public health ethics requires that dental hygienists:
- Maximize benefits to the most affluent patients
- Distribute oral health resources and burdens fairly across populations (Correct answer)
- Prioritize efficiency over equity in program delivery
- Exclude high-risk populations from prevention programs
Correct answer: Distribute oral health resources and burdens fairly across populations
Justice demands fair distribution of health resources and equal consideration of community members regardless of socioeconomic status.
NBDHE NBDHE Community Oral Health Principles 5
Which legislation mandates that states report oral health data to the CDC through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)?