NDEB Dental Public Health and Preventive Dentistry 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does 'incidence' measure in epidemiology?
- Total cases in a population at a point in time
- New cases of a disease over a defined time period (Correct answer)
- Severity of disease in a population
- Mortality rate from a disease
Correct answer: New cases of a disease over a defined time period
Incidence measures the rate of new cases of a disease arising in a population over a specific time period.
Question 2: Which study design best establishes causation between a risk factor and a disease?
- Cross-sectional study
- Case-control study
- Randomized controlled trial (Correct answer)
- Cohort study
Correct answer: Randomized controlled trial
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the gold standard for establishing causation because random allocation minimizes confounding variables.
Question 3: What is the main purpose of a needs assessment in dental public health?
- To train dental hygienists
- To identify oral health problems and resources in a community (Correct answer)
- To calculate insurance premiums
- To recruit study participants
Correct answer: To identify oral health problems and resources in a community
A community needs assessment identifies the oral health status, disease burden, and existing resources to plan appropriate public health interventions.
Question 4: Which federal program provides dental coverage for low-income children in the United States?
- Medicare Part B
- CHIP/Medicaid (Correct answer)
- TRICARE
- Federal Employees Health Benefits
Correct answer: CHIP/Medicaid
Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide dental benefits to eligible low-income children across the US.
Question 5: Which preventive measure has the highest cost-effectiveness for caries prevention at the community level?
- Dental sealant programs
- Community water fluoridation (Correct answer)
- School-based fluoride rinse programs
- Professional fluoride varnish campaigns
Correct answer: Community water fluoridation
Community water fluoridation is consistently ranked as the most cost-effective public health measure for caries prevention, delivering benefits to entire populations.
Question 6: What is 'sensitivity' of a diagnostic test?
- Ability to correctly identify those without disease (true negative rate)
- Ability to correctly identify those with disease (true positive rate) (Correct answer)
- Proportion of positive tests that are truly positive
- Proportion of negative tests that are truly negative
Correct answer: Ability to correctly identify those with disease (true positive rate)
Sensitivity is the true positive rate — the proportion of people with the disease who test positive, reflecting the test's ability to detect disease.
NDEB Dental Public Health and Preventive Dentistry 2
What does 'incidence' measure in epidemiology?