Recent reorganization of the Public Dental Health Service in Greenland in favor of caries prevention*

• Published in: Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
• Main Author: Jakobsen, Jan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1979
• Subjects: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; General Dentistry; Greenland; greenlandic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0528.1979.tb01189.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0528.1979.tb01189.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0528.1979.tb01189.x

Abstract The Danish dental health service in Greenland has not succeeded in its attempts to subdue a steadily growing caries problem in this rapidly changing society; surveys from 1974 and 1977 show that DMFS indices in this country are among the highest in the world. A comparison between the 1974 and 1977 surveys indicates that the DMFS indices reached a maximum around 1974. Pressing needs for other health services have left only small resources for a reorganization of the dental health service; at the same time, a certain lack of initial administrative support has hampered design and implementation of an adequate preventive program. Recently, a comprehensive plan for the training in Greenland of Greenlandic auxiliary personnel was put into effect, but at a time of economic depression. As a consequence, the dental health service now finds itself compelled to limit its previous scope of “comprehensive care”, to be able to spend a reasonable part of existing resources on preventive programs utilizing indigenous auxiliary personnel.