Long term evaluations of impacts of communitybased health promotion programmes are not an easy orstraightforward task to do due to lack of validated andreliable indices. Objective: To develop and test an indexto measure schoolchildren’s oral health knowledge,attitudes, and behaviour as a result of a school-based healthpromotion programme in Malaysia called the DoktorMuda (Junior Doctor) Programme (DMP). Materials andMethods: The index was developed in English based onthe DMP module and translated into Malay. The Malayversion was tested on 174, 11-12 year old schoolchildren.Psychometric analysis of the index involved content andface validity tests as well as factor analysis, internal andtest-retest reliability. Results: Factor analysis yielded 3factors with groups of items viz. oral health knowledge(OHK), oral health attitudes (OHA) and oral healthbehaviour (OHB). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of thethree factors were 0.61, 0.73, and 0.64, respectively. TheKappa coefficients were 0.70, 0.77 and 0.73, respectively(intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.72, 0.70 and 0.78).The final questionnaire comprised 33 items, namely; OHK11 items, OHA 15 items, and OHB 7 items. Conclusion:The Health Promotion Questionnaire Index (HPQI) tomeasure the DMP impact on schoolchildren’s oral healthknowledge, attitudes, and behaviours was empiricallyverified to be valid and reliable for use among 11-12 yearold Malaysian schoolchildren.

Background: The high prevalence and impacts of orofacial pain (OFP) have caused major sufferings to individuals and society. The purpose of the study was to investigate the problems and impacts of OFP among a group of Malaysian aborigines. The objectives were to determine (i) the prevalence, aetiology, duration, severity, types and persistence of OFP during the past 3 months preceding the study; (ii) its associated impact on daily performance; and (iii) the measures taken for pain relief. Methods: This is a cross sectional study carried out in Kuala Lipis, Pahang involving 6 villages of Orang Asli Bateq and Semai. Study sample was chosen using convenient sampling including adults aged 16 years and above. Participants were invited for an interview using structured questionnaire followed by clinical examination. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS ver12. Results: Response rate was low at 20% (n = 140). Over one-quarter (26.4%) of the sample experienced OFP in the previous 3 months. Toothache was found to be the main aetiology (83.3%) followed by gingival pain (18.9%), temporomandibular joint (10.8%) and facial pain (8.1%). Mean duration of pain was 9.8 days for toothache, 162.4 days for gingival pain, 7.3 days for TMJ and 5.7 days for facial pain. Of those who had OFP, over half rated the pain as moderate (37.8%) and severe (29.7%) and most of the pain was ‘intermittent’ in nature (81.1%). Over half (62.2%) admitted the pain had disappeared during the interview. In terms of pain relief, 56.8% of the sample used traditional medicine. The pain had impacted on the chewing ability (70.3%, p=0.01), ability to sleep at night (73.0%, p<0.001), levels of anxiety (70.3%), ability to perform daily chores (33.3%) and social life (35.1%) of the Orang Asli sample. Conclusion: This study suggests the prevalence of OFP was high among the Orang Asli sample, which imposed considerable physical and psychological impacts on daily life.

Aim: In response to the introduction of an integrated dentaleducation program at University of Malaya (UM) in 2011,a study was conducted to develop a caries risk assessmentmodel (CRA) for use in non-surgical caries managementfor Year 3 and 4 students of the new integrated program.Methods: The CRA model was based on risk indicatorsused by dental students in the Preventive Dental Clinic(PDC). Patients aged 15 years and above who attended thePDC for the first time in year 2009 and 2010 were used asstudy sample. Four hundred and fourteen patient nameswere identified from the student PDC logbook. Of the414, 359 dental records had complete data and includedin the analysis. Data were analysed using SPSS version17.0. Chi-square test was used for group comparison andassociated factors for coronal caries were analysed usingMultiple Logistic Regression (MLR). Results: The finalmodel showed that adults, brushing teeth once daily,and not having dental prosthesis/appliance were 3.31(CI=1.64-6.69), 2.53 (CI=1.19-5.40), and 2.25 (CI=1.25-4.10) more likely to develop coronal caries, respectively,than adolescents, brushing teeth at least twice a day, andhaving dental prosthesis/appliance. Conclusions: Theresults indicate that age group, toothbrushing frequencyand dental prosthesis status are significant indicators forcoronal caries among patients. Outcomes of the studycontributed towards bridging the gap between cariologyand preventive modules in the new integrated dentalprogram.

Background: In an academic setting due to financialconstrain, it is not uncommon during non-surgicalprocedures dental students and clinical supervisorswash their gloved hands with disinfectants in betweenpatients or when touching on non-contaminatedobjects. Whether this practice could cause anydeterioration of the glove and expose clinicians andpatients to infectious micro-organisms was a concern.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effectof multiple washes of gloved hands with a disinfectanton the integrity of the gloves. Methods: Three brandsof commonly used gloves in a dental school weretested for leaks after multiple washes with adisinfectant. Thirty pairs of each type of gloves weresubjected to 0, 1, 5, 10, 20 and 30 washes with adisinfectant solution at a 5-minute interval betweeneach wash. After each washing cycle, the gloves werefilled with 1L of water and hanged for 2 minutes toobserve any signs of water leaks. Results: The resultsshowed that the type of gloves and number of washeswere significantly associated with the leakage rates(p<0.001). Washing of gloves for more than 5 timeswere at least 6 times higher to suffer from leakage(OR=6.23, 95% CI=2.14–18.08). Powdered gloves werealmost 13 times higher to leak in all washes(OR=12.78, 95% CI= 4.40–37.14) and were almost 25times more likely to leak when washed for more than5 times (OR = 24.92, 95% CI = 5.79 – 107.21) whencompared to the non-powdered gloves. Conclusion:The practice of washing gloved hands with adisinfectant deteriorates the integrity of the gloves.