EPMA Journal - Featured article: Making a complex dental care tailored to the person

This month's featured article for The EPMA Journal is entitled "Making a complex dental care tailored to the person: population health in focus of predictive, preventive and personalised (3P) medical approach (this opens in a new tab)" by V. V. Tachalov et al. 

Oral cavity health is pivotal for prediction and prevention of associated pathologies. Inadequately provided oral health services in populations are caused by multi-factorial deficits. These deficits include, but are not limited to, low socio-economic status of affected individuals, lack of insurance in sub-populations, insufficient density of dedicated medical units, and, perhaps most importantly, the “participatory” medicine based on the active participation of population in maintaining oral health: healthcare will remain insufficient as long as the patient is not motivated and does not feel responsible for their oral health. 

This focus on dental health is noteworthy at this point in history because poor oral hygiene and periodontal disease have been proposed as leading to COVID-19 aggravation. Consequently, the issue-dedicated expert recommendations are focused on the optimal oral hygiene as being crucial for improved individual outcomes and reduced morbidity under the COVID-19 pandemic condition. 

In this study, researchers investigated factors such as age, gender, socio-economic status, quality of environment and life-style, oral hygiene quality, regularity of dental services requested, level of motivation and responsibility for own health status, and corresponding behavioural patterns to determine key parameters for patient stratification considering person-tailored approach in a complex dental care in the population.