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I J Møller

Publications and source records attributed to I J Møller.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Forecasting progress in preventive dentistry.

Technological forecasting is a new discipline with research methodologies of its own. One of the methods is the delphi-experiment. Predictive experiments have been conducted in both medicine and pharmacology, but not yet in the field of dentistry and dental research. The first round of the present dental delphi-experiment was conducted in 1975 with the participation of an international panel consisting of 91 experts. The experts were requested to respond to six questions related to dental caries and six questions related to periodontal disease. Numerous forecasts concerning future developments or breakthroughs were given by the international panel. This report discusses the preliminary findings.

Dental Caries

Preventive responses to various national problems.

The prevalence of dental disease appears to be increasing, especially in developing countries. The adoption of traditional Western-style oral health care delivery systems, which may be entirely inappropriate to the local circumstances, has resulted in the establishment of expensive and inefficient services in many parts of the world. In planning a realistic oral health service, administrators must first identify the problem, estimate available manpower in terms of number, type and distribution and identify the economic resources which can reasonably be allocated to oral health. Five categories of oral health status have been identified in various countries ranging from a situation characterized by very low, stable or increasing oral health problems with an acute shortage of manpower and almost non-existent dental care delivery system to the situation found in the most advanced countries where the oral health problem, though very high, may be already decreasing and where there is adequate manpower and delivery systems are highly developed. A preventive strategy for each of these five categories is presented which it is hoped would lead to an improvement of the oral status of the world's population as fast and as cheaply as possible.

Adult

The implementation of field trials.

Even though a preventive agent has been shown to be powerful in reducing the incidence of, for example, dental caries when tested in a longitudinal clinical trial, it might not be as powerful when tested under more realistic environmental conditions. Field trials or field demonstration programs will provide the final evidence for determining if the agent or procedure is of such practical importance as to be included as a component in a dental care delivery system. The methodology developed for health services research provides the possibility of testing the effectiveness of a single or combined components in a dental care delivery system seen in relation to the environment and conditions under which it operates. The World Health Organization is at present involved in the implementation of a long range of field demonstration programs in various parts of the world especially in developing countries in order to establish the potential of known preventive procedures in population groups with different levels and different progression patterns of oral diseases.

Delivery of Health Care