Dental caries is produced by the interrelationship of four factors :
1. The susceptible tooth surface (host)
2. Specific microorganisms (bacteria)
3. Fermentable carbohydrates predominantly in the form of sucrose (substrate)
4. Time[1]
Dental Caries Definition
Dental Caries Definition
The World Health Organization defines dental caries as a "localized, post-eruptive, pathological process of external orogin involving softening of the hard tooth tissue and proceeding to the formation of a cavity".[1]
According to Wilkins, dental caries is a disease of the dental calcified structures (enamel, dentin and cementum) which is characterized by decalcification of the mineral components and dissolution of the organic matrix.[2]
Categories of Health Education
As an extension of the lifestyle, health promotion, and health service goals of the 1974 Surgeon General`s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, 15 major subareas of health were defined.
Health Education is the primary instrument for accomplishing these goals. Essentially all health education issues can be placed into or more of the following categories :
Basic Aims of Health Education
The sole responsibility for health education should not lie with the physician, the professional health-educator, the public health department, the school system, the media, or the individual.
The responsibility must be a shared one, each sector playing an integrated and mutually supportive part in facilitating change toward a desired behavior.
What Is Health Education
The 1972-1973 Joint Committee on Health Education Terminology defined health education is "a process" with the intellectual, psychological, and social dimensions relating to activities which increase the abilities of people to make informed decisions affecting their personal, family and community well being".[1]
Green and his colleagues define health education as "any combination of learning experiences designed to facilitate voluntary adaptations of behavior conducive to health.[2]
