Guidance for the planning, implementation and evaluation of oral health care demonstration projects for under-served populations

Abstract

Recently, it has been proposed that in planning oral health care services in non-established market economy (non-EME) countries, and for under-served communities throughout the world, high priority be given to a basic package of oral care (BPOC). This package contains three key components: emergency care (oral urgent treatment - OUT), exposure to appropriate fluoride (affordable fluoride toothpaste - AFT) and appropriate treatment technology (atraumatic restorative treatment - ART). These three components are embedded in the supporting context of oral health promotion (OHP). There is a lack of experience in implementing BPOC and besides, there is not much known about the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the proposed components of BPOC, either individually or as a package, under local conditions. An effective approach in one setting may not be successful in another setting due to many factors such as a lack of acceptability by the community or local government or because of insufficient financial and human resources. It is therefore recommended to consider small scale demonstration projects for effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability assessments of the various components of BPOC before embarking on large scale programmes. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the different aspects related to the planning, implementation and evaluation of oral health demonstration projects for under-served communities.