Opportunities in oral health policy for Timor-Leste.

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dc.contributor.authorSoares, Lucio F Babo
dc.contributor.authorBettiol, Silvana S
dc.contributor.authorDalla-Fontana, Isaac J
dc.contributor.authorAllen, Penny
dc.contributor.authorCrocombe, Leonard A
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-27T05:19:52Z
dc.date.available2016-09-27T05:19:52Z
dc.date.issued2016-09
dc.description.abstractTimor-Leste faces an urgent set of challenges in oral health. The impact of oral diseases in terms of reduced quality of life and cost of treatment is considerable. This paper reviews progress on policy recommendations since the National Oral Health Survey in 2002, the first such national survey. Few proposals have been implemented to date, owing to (i) lack of local support for the recommendations, particularly on promotion of oral health; (ii) lack of financial and budgetary provisions for oral health; (iii) lack of focus on services, human resources and dental personnel; (iv) poor focus, design and implementation of policy and planning in oral health; and (v) lack of transport to facilitate health-care workers’ access to remote areas. Based on this assessment, the present paper presents a reconfigured set of policies and recommendations for oral health that take into consideration the reasons for low uptake of previous guidance. Key priorities are promotion of oral health, legislative interventions, education of the oralhealth workforce, dental outreach programmes, targeted dental treatment, dental infrastructure programmes, and research and evaluation. Interventions include promotion of oral health for schoolchildren, salt fluoridation, fluoride toothpaste and banning sweet stalls and use of tobacco and betel nut in, or near, schools. Timor-Leste should strengthen the availability and quality of outreach programmes for oral health. Dental therapists and dental nurses who can supply preventive and atraumatic restorative dental care should continue to be trained, and the planned dentistry school should be established. Ongoing research and evaluation is needed to ensure that the approach being used in Timor-Leste is leading to improved outcomes in oral health.en_US
dc.identifier.citationWHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health 2016;5(2): 164-173.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://imsear.searo.who.int/handle/123456789/177487
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherWHO Regional Office for South-East Asiaen_US
dc.rightsWHO Regional Office for South-East Asiaen_US
dc.source.urihttps://www.searo.who.int/publications/journals/seajph/issues/seajph2016v5n2p164.pdfen_US
dc.subjectdentalen_US
dc.subjectdeveloping economiesen_US
dc.subjectoral healthen_US
dc.subjectpolicyen_US
dc.subjectpreventionen_US
dc.subjectTimor-Lesteen_US
dc.titleOpportunities in oral health policy for Timor-Leste.en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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