Browsing by Author "Luís, H. S."
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Dental hygiene work in a clinical trialPublication . Luís, H. S.; Morgado, I; Assunção, V.; Bernardo, M. F.; Leroux, B.; Martin, M. D.; DeRouen, T. A.; Leitão, J.Dental hygiene activities were developed as part of a randomized clinical trial designed to assess the safety of low-level mercury exposure from dental amalgam restorations. Along with dental-hygiene clinical work, a community programme was implemented after investigators noticed the poor oral hygiene habits of participants, and the need for urgent action to minimize oral health problems in the study population. Objectives: Clinical and community activity goal was to promote oral health and prevent new disease. Community activities involved participants and their fellow students and were aimed at providing education on oral health in a school environment. Methods: Dental hygienists developed clinical work with prophylaxis, sealants application and topical fluoride and implemented the community programme with in-class sessions on oral health themes. Twice a month fluoride mouthrinses and bi-annual tooth brushing instructional activity took place. Participation at dental-hygiene activities, sealed teeth with no need of restoration and dental-plaque-index were measures used to evaluate success of the programme for the participants. Results: Improvement in dental hygiene is shown by the decrease in dental plaque index scores (P < 0.0001); also sealants integrity is achieved in 86.3% of teeth. 888 (13.7%) teeth with sealants had to be restored or were lost. Children participated actively on dental hygiene activities. Teachers became aware of the problem and included oral-health in school curricula. Conclusion: Dental hygiene activities have shown to be helpful to promote dental hygiene, promote oral health and to provide school-age children with education on habits that will be important for their future good health.
- Evaluation of a 7-year schoolbased community dental hygiene programme in Portugal by high school teachersPublication . Assunção, V. A.; Luís, H. S.; Bernardo, M. F.; Martin, M. D.; Leroux, B.; DeRouen, T. A.; Leitão, J. M.Objectives: To obtain high school teachers evaluation of a Community Dental Hygiene programme, developed as part of a clinical trial designed to assess the safety of low-level mercury exposure from amalgam restorations. Methods: A questionnaire to assess programme evaluation, personal opinion on programme relevance and satisfaction with activities was distributed among teachers. It had a total of 22 questions organized into three groups. Results: A total of 25 questionnaires were obtained from teachers who participated in the programme. Ninety-two per cent of the respondents had a positive opinion concerning the existence of the programme. Eighty-eight per cent of the teachers believed that the programme changed student’s knowledge about dental hygiene. Ninety-two per cent of teachers supported the existence of the programme and 88% of them disagreed with a statement that participation in the programme was a waste of time. Teachers who did not collaborate actively with dental hygiene activities indicated belief that the programme affected school activities (P = 0.003). Teachers who actively participated in the programme believe that dental hygiene activities were important for students (P = 0.005). Conclusions: Teacher evaluations of this kind of programme are critical for the development of school-based Dental Hygiene Education programmes. Teachers believe that Dental Hygiene Education is crucial for students’ well-being.
- Persistence of oral candida albicans carriage in healthy portuguese schoolchildren followed for 3yearsPublication . Starr, J. R.; White, T. C.; Leroux, B. G.; Luís, H. S.; Bernardo, M.; Leitão, J.; Roberts, M. C.Little is known about carriage of Candida albicans, the predominant pathogenic yeast in oral infection, in children. We cultured buccal mucosal and gingival swabs from 150 Portuguese children to investigate the prevalence of C. albicans at baseline (before dental treatment), post-treatment, and 12, 24, and 36months post-baseline. The children, aged 8 to 11years at baseline, had no systemic disease or clinical symptoms of oral candidiasis. At each successive visit, respectively, 47, 32, 21, 27, and 28% of children were C. albicans positive, resulting in an almost 50% reduction in prevalence from baseline to post-treatment (P_0.0005). Children who carried C. albicans at one visit had 3 to 20 times greater odds of carrying C. albicans at another visit. C. albicans was cultured from 12 children at all time-points and from 10 children at four time-points. Children with oral C. albicans frequently maintained carriage over time, even with regular dental care.
- The dental hygiene program in PortugalPublication . Luís, H. S.; Ribeiro, S.; Albuquerque, T.The dental hygiene program is a fairly recent addition in the field of the health professions in Portugal. In the past 19 years, the programme has developed community activities alongside with clinical work. This programme provides an education that is responsive, scientific and professional, in a learning environment that is dynamic, student-centred and that encourages collaboration between students and faculty. The community activities play a major role in the curricula of the programme and allow the students to develop skills in working with a wide range of population groups and to attend to their specific needs. Dental hygienists are integrated in health teams and work under the supervision of a physician or a dentist. Among other responsibilities, the following functions are part of the scope of the profession: to participate in health education programmes and sensitise the population to the prevention of dental diseases, to participate in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the public health programmes and to perform clinical treatment for prevention and control of gingivitis, periodontitis, and dental caries. An overview of the activities developed in the year 2002 and future perspectives are presented in this article.