Developing a model to assess community level risk of oral diseases for planning public dental services in Australia

Abstract

Poor oral health is a chronic condition that can be extremely costly to manage. In Australia, publicly funded dental services are provided to community members deemed to be eligible-those who are socio-economically disadvantaged or determined to be at higher risk of dental disease. Historically public dental services have nominally been allocated based on the size of the eligible population in a geographic area. This approach has been largely inadequate for reducing disparities in dental disease, primarily because the approach is treatment-focused,and oral health is influenced by a variety of interacting factors. This paper describes the developmental process of a multi-dimensional community..