Special section on dental public health: A collaboration between the Canadian journal of Public Health and the Canadian Association of Public Health Dentistry/Section speciale sur la sante dentaire publique : une collaboration entre la Revue canadienne de sante publique et l'Association canadienne de la sante dentaire publique.
McLaren, Lindsay ; Figueiredo, Raphael
In this issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health, we are pleased to present a special section on the topic of dental public health. The Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada defines dental public health as: "that branch and specialty of dentistry concerned with the diagnosis, prevention and control of dental diseases, and the promotion of oral health through organized community efforts. Dental public health serves the community as the patient rather than the individual, through research, health promotion, education, and group dental care programs". (1, p.1) This is an historical definition and, today, dental public health extends far beyond this, to issues related to patient care (e.g., clinical epidemiology, risk assessment, clinical preventive therapies) and social justice (e.g., equity in oral health and access to dental care, resource allocation ethics). Dental public health is important exactly because of all of this, whether played out in public dental care programming, public policy development, and/or advocacy.
This special section represents a collaboration between the CJPH and the Canadian Association of Public Health Dentistry (CAPHD), and was carried out in conjunction with the 2016 CAPHD annual conference. The 2016 conference, held September 30-October 1 in Edmonton, was a special occasion for the CAPHD, representing the association's 50th anniversary. This was reflected in the conference theme, "Improving the health of Canadians: 50 years of CAPHD". All presenters at the 2016 conference (i.e., those who submitted abstracts that were accepted for oral or poster presentation) were invited to submit full manuscripts for consideration in this special section. All submitted manuscripts went through CJPH's usual, rigorous, peer-review process.
We are excited to feature many important papers in this special section, covering a range of topics. Papers by Gomaa et al., (2) Farmer et al., (3) and Roos et al. (4) tackle the important issue of socio-economic inequities in oral health. A paper by Singhal et al. (5) and a commentary by Brondani et al. (6) consider the burden of dental conditions treated in emergency rooms, which is one consequence of inadequate infrastructure for dental public health and prevention. Opportunities for preventive dental measures are discussed in papers by Milne et al., (7) Barberio et al., (8) Soussou et al., (9) and Huber et al. (10)
An important feature of each CAPHD annual conference is the Dr. James (Jim) Leake Student Bursary, which was developed to recognize the significant contributions of Dr. Jim Leake to public health in Canada and abroad, through education, scholarship, advocacy, and policy development. We are delighted to feature, in this special section, papers by the two winners of the 2016 Dr. Leake Student Bursary: Dr. Noha Gomaa, BDS, MSc, PhD candidate, whose paper considers the role of socio-economic position in the oral-systemic health link towards answering the question, "how does the social get under the gums?" (2) and Ms. Amanda Barberio, BHSc (Hons), MSc, whose paper examines the association between fluoride exposure and learning disability diagnosis among Canadian children, as well as the implications for community water fluoridation, using important data available from the Canadian Health Measures Survey. (8)
Finally, in response to a perceived gap in topics of submitted papers, we solicited an editorial on the topic of Indigenous oral health issues, and were delighted that Indigenous dentist, Dr. Sheri McKinstry, accepted our invitation. We believe that McKinstry's (11) editorial is in keeping with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission approach that clears space for Indigenous peoples to provide leadership on Indigenous matters. As we can see from this editorial, doing so allows for the clear emergence of experiences and approaches that begin to foundationally address and guide us towards meaningful and relevant effective change.
We hope you enjoy the special section.
Lindsay McLaren, Senior Editor, CJPH; University of Calgary, Calgary, AB
Raphael Figueiredo, President (2016-2017), Canadian Association of Public Health Dentistry; Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, AB
doi: 10.17269/CJPH.108.6347
REFERENCES
(1.) Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada. Accreditation Requirements for Dental Public Health Programs. Ottawa, ON: Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada, 2013. Available at: https://www.cda-adc.ca/ cdacweb/en/accreditation_requirements/dental_specialties/ (Accessed July 21, 2017).
(2.) Gomaa H, Nicolau B, Siddiqi A, Tenenbaum H, Glogauer M, Quinonez C. How does the social "get under the gums"? The role of socio-economic position in the oral-systemic health link. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e224-e228.
(3.) Farmer J, Phillips RC, Singhal S, Quinonez C. Inequalities in oral health: Understanding the contributions of education and income. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e240-e245.
(4.) Roos LL, Dragan R, Schroth RJ. Pediatric ambulatory care sensitive conditions: Birth cohorts and the socio-economic gradient. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e257-e264.
(5.) Singhal S, McLaren L, Quinonez C. Trends in emergency department visits for non-traumatic dental conditions in Ontario from 2006 to 2014. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e246-e250.
(6.) Brondani M, Ahmad SH. The 1% of emergency room visits for non-traumatic dental conditions in British Columbia: Misconceptions about the numbers. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e279-e281.
(7.) Milne A, Weijs CA, Haines-Saah RJ, McLaren L. Parents' online discussions about children's dental caries: A critical content analysis. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e265-e272.
(8.) Barberio AM, Quinonez C, Hosein FS, McLaren L. Fluoride exposure and reported learning disability diagnosis among Canadian children: Implications for community water fluoridation. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e229-e239.
(9.) Soussou R, Aleksejuniene J, Harrison R. Waiting room time: An opportunity for parental oral health education. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e251-e256.
(10.) Huber C, Baran S, de Graaff C, Howell M, Patterson S, Figueiredo R. Redirecting public oral health fluoride varnish intervention to low socio-economic status children in Alberta. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3): e273-e278.
(11.) McKinstry S. Indigenous oral health inequity: An Indigenous provider perspective. [Editorial] Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e221-e223.
Nous sommes heureux de presenter dans ce numero de la Revue canadienne de sante publique, une section speciale autour du theme de la sante dentaire publique. La Commission de l'agrement dentaire du Canada definit la sante dentaire publique comme etant : << cette discipline et specialite de la medecine dentaire qui se consacre au diagnostic et a la prevention des maladies dentaires, a la lutte contre ces maladies, ainsi qu'a la promotion de la sante buccodentaire par le biais d'efforts communautaires organises. Cette specialite dessert la communaute plutot que l'individu, par des programmes de recherche, de promotion de la sante, d'education et de soins dentaires collectifs >> (1, p.1). [Traduction libre] Il s'agit la d'une definition historique et, de nos jours, la sante dentaire publique depasse largement ce cadre et s'etend aux questions liees aux soins des patients (epidemiologie clinique, evaluation des risques, traitements preventifs cliniques, p. ex.) et a la justice sociale (equite dans le domaine de la sante buccodentaire et de l'acces aux soins dentaires, ethique de l'allocation des ressources, p. ex.). C'est precisement pour toutes ces raisons que la sante dentaire publique est importante, tant sur les plans du developpement de programmes de soins dentaires publics, de l'elaboration de politiques publiques que de la defense des interets.
Cette section speciale est le fruit d'une collaboration entre la Revue canadienne de sante publique (RCSP) et l'Association canadienne de la sante dentaire publique (ACSDP) qui s'est deroulee dans le cadre de la conference annuelle de l'ACSDP de 2016. Cette conference, qui a eu lieu les 30 septembre et 1er octobre 2016 a Edmonton, marquait une occasion speciale pour l'ACSDP, soit le 50e anniversaire de l'Association, comme en temoignait le theme << Ameliorer la sante des Canadiens et des Canadiennes : 50 ans de l'ACSDP >>. Tous les conferenciers (c.-a-d. ceux ayant propose des resumes qui ont ete retenus pour une presentation orale ou par affiches) ont ete invites a soumettre des textes integraux aux fins de publication dans la presente section speciale. Tous les textes soumis ont fait l'objet du processus rigoureux habituel d'examen par les pairs de la RCSP.
Nous sommes ravis de presenter dans cette section speciale plusieurs articles importants couvrant une variete de sujets. Les articles de Gomaa et coll. (2), de Farmer et coll. (3) et de Roos et coll. (4) abordent la delicate question des inegalites socio-economiques en sante buccodentaire. Un article de Singhal et coll. (5) ainsi qu'un commentaire de Brondani et coll. (6) s'interrogent sur le fardeau des problemes dentaires dans les salles d'urgence attribuable a l'insuffisance des infrastructures pour la sante dentaire publique et la prevention. Quant aux articles de Milne et coll. (7), de Barberio et coll. (8), de Soussou et coll. (9) ainsi que d'Huber et coll. (10), ils portent tous sur les possibilites de mesures dentaires preventives.
La bourse etudiante du Dr James (Jim) Leake occupe une place importante a chacune des conferences annuelles de l'ACSDP. Cette bourse a ete mise sur pied pour souligner les importantes contributions en matiere de sante publique au Canada et a l'etranger, dans le cadre d'activites d'education, d'instruction, de defense des interets et d'elaboration de politiques. Nous sommes tres heureux de proposer, dans cette section speciale, les articles des deux recipiendaires de la bourse etudiante du Dr Leake de 2016, soit Dre Noha Gomaa, B.D.S., M.Sc., candidate au doctorat, dont l'article examine le role de la situation socio-economique dans les liens potentiels entre la sante buccodentaire et la sante generale en vue de repondre a la question : << comment la situation sociale attaque-t-elle les gencives? >> et Amanda Barberio, B.H.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc., dont l'article etudie le lien entre l'exposition au fluorure et les troubles d'apprentissage chez les enfants canadiens, ainsi que l'incidence de la fluoruration de l'eau potable des collectivites, grace a d'importantes donnees tirees de l'Enquete canadienne sur les mesures de la sante (8).
Enfin, afin de combler un vide percu dans les themes des articles soumis, nous avons sollicite un editorial sur le theme des enjeux en sante buccodentaire chez les Autochtones. Nous sommes donc ravis que la dentiste autochtone Dre Sheri McKinstry ait repondu a notre invitation. Nous croyons que l'editorial de Dre McKinstry (11) est en harmonie avec l'approche de la Commission de verite et de reconciliation qui permet aux peuples autochtones de jouer un role de premier plan sur les questions autochtones. Comme le laisse entendre cet editorial, cela permet l'emergence evidente d'experiences et d'approches qui commencent a aborder fondamentalement les enjeux et qui nous orientent vers un important changement pertinent et efficace. Nous esperons que cette section speciale vous plaira.
Lindsay McLaren, Directrice, RCSP; Universite de Calgary, Calgary (Alberta)
Raphael Figueiredo, President (2016-2017), Association canadienne de la sante dentaire publique; Services de sante de l'Alberta, Edmonton (Alberta)
doi: 10.17269/CJPH.108.6347
REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES
(1.) Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada. Accreditation Requirements for Dental Public Health Programs. Ottawa, ON: Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada, 2013. Sur Internet : https://www.cda-adc.ca/cdacweb/ en/accreditation_requirements/dental_specialties/ (consulte le 21 juillet 2017).
(2.) Gomaa H, Nicolau B, Siddiqi A, Tenenbaum H, Glogauer M, Quinonez C. How does the social "get under the gums"? The role of socio-economic position in the oral-systemic health link. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e224-e228.
(3.) Farmer J, Phillips RC, Singhal S, Quinonez C. Inequalities in oral health: Understanding the contributions of education and income. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e240-e245.
(4.) Roos LL, Dragan R, Schroth RJ. Pediatric ambulatory care sensitive conditions: Birth cohorts and the socio-economic gradient. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e257-e264.
(5.) Singhal S, McLaren L, Quin onez C. Trends in emergency department visits for non-traumatic dental conditions in Ontario from 2006 to 2014. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e246-e250.
(6.) Brondani M, Ahmad SH. The 1% of emergency room visits for non-traumatic dental conditions in British Columbia: Misconceptions about the numbers. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e279-e281.
(7.) Milne A, Weijs CA, Haines-Saah RJ, McLaren L. Parents' online discussions about children's dental caries: A critical content analysis. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e265-e272.
(8.) Barberio A, Quin onez C, Hosein FS, McLaren L. Fluoride exposure and reported learning disability diagnosis among Canadian children: Implications for community water fluoridation. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e229-e239.
(9.) Soussou R, Aleksejuniene J, Harrison R. Waiting room time: An opportunity forparental oral health education. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e251-e256.
(10.) Huber C, Baran S, de Graaff C, Howell M, Patterson S, Figueiredo R. Redirecting public oral health fluoride varnish intervention to low socio-economic status children in Alberta. Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e273-e278.
(11.) McKinstry S. Indigenous oral health inequity: An Indigenous provider perspective. [Editorial] Can J Public Health 2017; 108(3):e221-e223.
