Trends in caries experience of adults in the Netherlands from 1995 to 2013

The Dutch National Health Care Institute, formerly CVZ/Ziekenfondsraad, asked TNO to investigate oral health in adults in the Netherlands 4 times in the period from 1995 to 2013 in order to monitor trends in oral health and, if necessary, to be able to adjust their policies accordingly. With the results of these 4 studies, the trends in caries experience of 25- up to and including 54-year-olds during the period 1995 to 2013 were established. In 1995, 2002, 2007 and 2013, the oral health of 25- up to and including 54-year-olds living in 's-Hertogenbosch was determined by means of a questionnaire and a clinical oral examination. In the period 1995-2013 a reduction in caries experience was found in both well- and less well-educated individuals. The outcomes for well-educated individuals were more favourable than those of their less well-educated peers. In 2012, then, oral health still has a socio-economic gradient. The debate on how to reach the high-risk group remains a matter of concern both for the dental profession and for politicians. In order to be able to keep a finger on the pulse monitoring of caries experience is of great importance.</p

Caries in deprived areas 1. Adults

In the Netherlands, little epidemiologic data is available on the oral health of the various cultural groups comprising the adult population living in deprived areas. The aim of an investigation carried out in 2013 was to obtain an impression of the extent of caries experience among less well-educated adults in deprived areas by comparison with a reference group of adults from the city of 's-Hertogenbosch. A total of 1,597 less well-educated respondents participated in this research. The reference population had the largest amount of caries experience, mostly due to a relatively large number of filled surfaces. The relatively low caries experience found in the respondents in the deprived areas with a non-Dutch cultural affiliation was due to lower numbers of filled surfaces. The differences in average filled-surface scores were statistically significant in all age categories, except the youngest. The strategy of 'extension for prevention' in caries treatment in the permanent dentition represents a possible explanation for the fact that less well-educated adults in 's-Hertogenbosch had significantly more filled surfaces than those with a non-Dutch cultural affiliation.</p

Health-related quality-of-life measures for long-term follow-up in children after major trauma

Objective: Our objective was to review measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL) for long-term follow up in children after major trauma and to determine the measures that are suitable for a large age range, reliable and valid, and cover a substantial amount of the domains of functioning using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization (WHO). Methods: The Medline and EMBASE databases were searched in all years up to October 2007 for generic HRQL measures suitable for children aged 5-18 years old and validated in English or Dutch. Measures were reviewed with respect to the age range for which the measure was suitable and reliability, validity, and content related to the ICF. Results: The search resulted in 1,235 hits and 21 related articles. Seventy-nine papers met the inclusion criteria, describing in total 14 measures: Child Health and Illness Profile Adolescent and Child Edition (CHIP-AE/CE), Child Health Questionnaire Child and Parent Forms (CHQCF87/PF50/PF28), DISABKIDS, Functional Status II (FS II)(R), Health Utilities Index Mark 2 (HUI 2), KIDSCREEN 52/27, KINDL, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), TNO Institute of Prevention and Health and the Leiden University Hospital (TNO-AZL), TNO-AZL Children’s Quality Of Life (TACQOL), and Youth Quality of Life Instrument-Research Version (YQOL-R). Measures that were suitable for a large age range were CHQ-PF50/PF28, DISABKIDS, FS II(R), HUI 2, KIDSCREEN, PedsQL, and TACQOL. All measures had moderate to good psychometric properties, except for CHQ-PF50/PF28, KINDL, and TACQOL, which had either low internal consistency or bad test-retest reliability. The measures that covered more than six chapters of the ICF domains were CHIP-AE/CE, CHQ-CF87/PF50, DISABKIDS, KIDSCREEN-52, PedsQL, and TACQOL. Conclusions: DISABKIDS, KIDSCREEN 52, and Peds-QL are suitable for long-term follow-up measurement of HRQL in children after major trauma. They cover a large age range, have good psychometric properties, and cover the ICF substantially

Doing Office Work on the Motorway

This article takes the motorway seriously as a place where the society of traffic can be found and studied. While many kinds of activities are done by drivers and passengers in parallel with driving on the motorway, such as listening to the radio, eating lunch or caring for, or being, children, I focus here on office work. Empirical material from a video-ethnography of one driver doing paperwork and overtaking a slow-moving vehicle ahead is used to examine in detail some of the practices of combining driving and office-duties in the car while in motion. Drawing on the work of Harvey Sacks, the article examines how this mobile society is naturally organized as an architectural configuration brought to life in the practices of driving in traffic. Overlooked phenomena that are orderly stable features of being mobile are analysed, such as ‘overtaking’, ‘tailgating’ and ‘cruising’. Where other writers have used ‘speed’ to theorize the contemporary period, a brief re-specification is offered in the light of the uses, moral and otherwise, of speed within, and as made apprehensible in relation to, traffic

Kies-voor-Tanden Study:caries among 17-year-olds in the Netherlands

This fourth in a series of 5 articles in the context of the 2017 Kies-voor-Tanden study presents the results for 17-year-olds. 34% of the 17-year-olds had flawless permanent teeth. In 2017, there were still differences in oral health among the socio-economic groups, to the advantage of the high socio-economic group. The oral health of 17-year-olds had stagnated during the previous 6 years and even appeared to be deteriorating according to some indicators. In addition, knowledge about the dental insurance system after the 18th birthday was poor. Conclusion: The oral health of 17-year-olds had not improved in the previous years. This trend must be followed by monitoring research. In addition, interventions to improve the oral health, knowledge and behaviour of adolescents should be set up and evaluated.</p

Kies-voor-Tanden Study:caries among 23-year-olds in the Netherlands

This fifth and final in a series of 5 articles in the context of the 2017 Kies-voor-Tanden study presents the results for 23-year-olds. 21% of the 23-year-olds had flawless permanent teeth. In 2017, there were still differences in oral health among the socio-economic (SES) groups, to the advantage of the high SES group. The oral health of the low SES group had shown some improvement in the previous 6 years, while this was not the case within the high SES group. The preventive dental behaviour of 23-year-olds was not optimal and the knowledge about the dental insurance system was poor. Conclusion: the oral health of 23-year-olds had partly improved, partly stagnated. Since not everyone will be able to access information through oral care professionals, other ways of providing information to them must be considered. In the context of public health, to be able to follow trends in oral health and dental preventive behaviour of (young) adults, research monitoring oral health is of great importance.</p