[Oral health care volunteering in developing countries 1. More than charity].

Although limited in extent, oral health care volunteering in developing countries can contribute to sustainable improvement of oral health. However, it is questionable whether traditional care delivery based on the Western model, which many volunteers apply, has a sustainable effect and, presumably, it has negative consequences for the local health care system in many developing countries. Four i's should be involved when trying to make tactful policy: 1.

Public health in action: effective school health needs renewed international attention.

School health programmes as a platform to deliver high-impact health interventions are currently underrated by decision makers and do not get adequate attention from the international public health community. We describe the award-winning Fit for School Approach from the Philippines as an example of a large-scale, integrated, cost-effective and evidence-based programme that bridges the gap between sectors, and between evidence and practice. In view of the challenges to achieve the health and education related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in many countries, intensified efforts are required.

Essential health care package for children--the 'Fit for School' program in the Philippines.

High prevalence of poverty diseases such as diarrhoea, respiratory tract infection, parasitic infections and dental caries among children in the developing world calls for a return to primary health care principles with a focus on prevention. The 'Fit for School' program in the Philippines is based on international recommendations and offers a feasible, low-cost and realistic strategy using the principles of health promotion outlined in the Ottawa Charter. The cornerstone of the programme is the use of school structures for the implementation of preventive health strategies.

Species distribution and in vitro antifungal susceptibility of oral yeast isolates from Tanzanian HIV-infected patients with primary and recurrent oropharyngeal candidiasis.

Background: In Tanzania, little is known on the species distribution and antifungal susceptibility profiles of yeast isolates from HIV-infected patients with primary and recurrent oropharyngeal candidiasis.

Methods: A total of 296 clinical oral yeasts were isolated from 292 HIV-infected patients with oropharyngeal candidiasis at the Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Identification of the yeasts was performed using standard phenotypic methods.

Gains in oral health and improved quality of life of 12-13-year-old Nepali schoolchildren: outcomes of an advocacy project to fluoridate toothpaste.

Objectives: To report on gains in oral health and improved quality of life of 12-13-year-old Nepali schoolchildren five and six years after the introduction of fluoride toothpaste in 1999.

Design: Cross sectional baseline surveys in 1999 and 2001, and follow up surveys in 2004 and 2005 were multi-stage cluster sampling in design.

Setting: Urban and rural schools in Central, Far Western, Mid Western and Western Developmental Regions of Nepal.

Implementation of a Basic Package of Oral Care: towards a reorientation of dental Ngos and their volunteers.

Dental NGOs and volunteers working in disadvantaged communities around the world do so with the best of intentions and with high motivation. Regrettably, the impact of this engagement on oral health at the population level remains rather low. This is mainly due to the choice of inappropriate approaches, the failure to integrate their projects within existing health care systems and the lack of sustainability.

Validation of a Swiss method of caries prediction in Dutch children.

Objective: This study aimed to validate a caries prediction method, the Dentoprog-Method, which was developed on Swiss children.

Method: A Dutch child population was used for validation. The diagnosis of caries, age of the children and the caries experience were slightly different from the population from which the Dentoprog-Method was developed.