Overview of dental professionally topical fluoride application in public health measure in Taiwan in 2021

Feng-Chou Cheng; Ling-Hsia Wang; Yin-Lin Wang; Chun-Pin Chiang

Journal of Dental Sciences (Apr 2023)

Overview of dental professionally topical fluoride application in public health measure in Taiwan in 2021

Feng-Chou Cheng,
Ling-Hsia Wang,
Yin-Lin Wang,
Chun-Pin Chiang

Affiliations

Feng-Chou Cheng: Chia-Te Dental Clinic, New Taipei City, Taiwan; School of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan; Science Education Center, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
Ling-Hsia Wang: Center for the Literature and Art, Hsin Sheng Junior College of Medical Care and Management, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Yin-Lin Wang: Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Corresponding author. Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Chang-Te Street, Taipei, 10048, Taiwan.
Chun-Pin Chiang: Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Dentistry, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan; Corresponding author. Department of Dentistry, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, No. 707, Section 3, Chung-Yang Road, Hualien, 970, Taiwan.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 18, no. 2
pp. 857 – 864

Abstract

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Background/purpose: In Taiwan, it has been 16 years since the policy of children's dental professionally topical fluoride application (PTFA) services was implemented. This study investigated the differences in the number of children's dental PTFA outpatient visits among cities and counties or different regions of Taiwan in 2021. Materials and methods: The population data and medical records of the number of children's dental PTFA outpatient visits were obtained from the websites of Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Health and Welfare, respectively. The secondary data were divided by cities and counties to analyze the urban-rural gap and regional differences in the number of children's dental PTFA outpatient visits in Taiwan in 2021. Results: In Taiwan, municipalities had the largest number of dental PTFA visits (721,338, 66.91% of the total dental PTFA visits), while remote and outlying island counties had the smallest number of dental PTFA visits (84,509, 7.84%). The northern region had the largest number of dental PTFA visits (466,728, 43.29%), while outlying islands had the smallest number of dental PTFA visits (25,055, 2.32%). Based on the children aged 3–5 years, municipalities had the lowest dental PTFA use rate (171.70%), while remote and outlying island counties had the highest dental PTFA use rate (482.96%). Conclusion: In Taiwan, there is a higher number of children's dental PTFA outpatient visits in municipalities than in non-municipalities or remote and outlying island counties as well as in northern region than in each of other four regions (central, southern, and eastern regions and outlying islands).

Published in Journal of Dental Sciences

ISSN: 1991-7902 (Print)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: Taiwan, Province of China
LCC subjects: Medicine: Dentistry
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-dental-sciences/

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