Oral health in Hong Kong

Oral health is regarded worldwide as essential for individual general health and wellbeing (World Health Organization, 2003), no matter how rich or poor. In recent decades, many oral health promotion programs were carried out with positive outcomes, for example, the global average of dental decay experience at 12 years of age was reduced from ~5 Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT) in 1980 to less than 3 DMFT in 1998 (WHO, 2003). However, increasing urbanization and socio-economic changes are affecting oral health and general health adversely due to some unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors. Extremely costly dental treatment is required to deal with these oral diseases. Therefore, as oral diseases are highly preventable, oral health promotion is highly recommended as a worldwide strategy. Hong Kong (HK) is facing the same problem as shown from the Oral Health Survey in 2001 (Department of Health, 2002). The current oral health promotion measures in HK were launched in the 1960s, and these measures are based on the health promotion strategies devised by the World Health Organization (WHO) (1986). However, they have their limitations and weaknesses, and so some improvements are required.