case study; preventing dental caries in Jamaica
Details: Please answer these questions: 1. Are dental caries and dental health a global public health issue? Should dental health be a priority? 2. If you were health minister in Ethiopia, what proportion of your annual budget would you spend on dental health? What would you do? 3. What are the economic and social consequences of dental caries? Why might Jamaican children have a particularly high prevalence of dental problems (before the salt fortification)? 4. Why was water fluoridation not the right approach in Jamaica, as it is in the U.S? What would have been the consequences had the authorities chosen to fluoridate the water? Consider how improvements would have seen only among children with access to publicly provided water- typically from wealthier families. 5. What are the arguments against community- level fortification interventions such as salt fluoridation? Do you agree or disagree with those arguments? What do you think it would take to convince those who believe that fluoridation of water or salts is a bad idea?
