November 22, 2000
The Department of Health (DH) announced that the Oral Health Survey 2001 would be conducted to study the oral health status and level of oral health awareness of the community.
The Consultant Paedodontist of DH, Dr Joseph Chan today (November 22) said: "The 12-month oral health survey will start in February 2001 and will follow the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on such surveys.
"More than 6 700 people from four index age groups have been selected to join the survey."
The survey is conducted in consultation with Dr Edward Lo, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong and Dr Eli Schwarz, Executive Director of the International Association of Dental Research in the United States.
The four index age groups are:
Dr Chan said: "The five-year-old children who are selected from kindergarten grade 3 (K3) and nursery grade 4 (N4) throughout the territory, are of interest in relation to levels of tooth decay in their first set of teeth.
"The 12-year-old secondary school students are at a stage that all permanent teeth (except wisdom teeth) would have erupted. This age group has been chosen by the WHO as the global monitoring age for caries for international comparison and monitoring of disease trends.
"The 35-to-44-year-old group is the WHO standard group for monitoring of health conditions for adults. The WHO also explicitly indicates that the 65-to-74-year-old group has become more important with the changes in age distribution and increase in life span that are now occurring in all countries.
"The full effect of tooth decay, level of severe gum disease involvement and general effects of care provided for the two groups can be monitored."
Samples of households with adults and non-institutionalised elderly are provided by the Census and Statistics Department. Senior citizens in residential institutions registered under the Social Welfare Department are also selected to join the survey.
The Dental Officer (Administration) of DH, Dr Frankie So explained that the survey would comprise two parts, namely a 10-to-15-minute oral examination and a questionnaire.
Dr So said: "DH will first send an invitation letter to selected persons at their homes or through their schools or residential institutions between December 2000 and October 2001. Voluntary participation will not be accepted because of statistical considerations.
"Survey teams comprising a Dental Officer and two assistants will then go to the schools, residential institutions and homes of selected persons to carry out the oral examination.
"In addition to the oral examination, each selected person will be requested to complete a questionnaire to provide information on personal background related to oral health, knowledge and attitude, and personal oral care habits.
"The survey will be conducted free of charge.
"Team members will all have DH's Identity Cards carrying their names and photographs. For enquiries on the survey, please call DH's Dental Service (2961 8908) from December 1, 2000."
Dr So stressed that information obtained in the oral health survey would be treated in the strictest confidence and would only be used for the sole purpose of the survey.
A new TV Announcement of Public Interest (API) titled "Healthy teeth are life-long friends" will be broadcast on all TV stations starting the end of this (November) month.