Term | Definition |
Assessment | A core public health function that includes the regular and systematic collection, assemblage, and analysis of data and communication regarding the oral health of the community. |
Epidemiology | The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in specified populations and the application of this study to the control of health problems. |
Host Factors | Factors that affect a host's (a person's, an animal's, or a plant's) susceptibility and resistance to disease. |
Agent Factors | Biologic or mechanical means of causing disease, illness, injury, or disability, including microbial, parasitic, viral, and bacterial pathogens or vectors; physical or mechanical irritants; chemicals; drugs; trauma; automobiles; and radiation. |
Enviromental Factors | Physical, sociocultural, sociopolitical, and economic components that interact with host and agent. |
Determinants of Health | Factors that interact to create circumstances and produce specific health conditions' can be classified as a physical (environmental), biologic, behavioral, social, cultural, and spiritual. |
Mandala of Health | Hancock's model of health of the human ecosystem. |
Planning Cycle | A model commonly used in public health practice that provides a basic flowchart of steps in the process to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate. |
Community Oral Health Assessment | A multifaceted process of identifying factors that affect the oral health |
Community Profile | A comprehensive description of the community, including items such as population size, geographic boundaries, community type, and physical conditions. |
Data Collection | The process of gathering the information that can be used by the community to make decisions and set priorities. |
Quantitative Data | Information that is objective and measurable; can be expressed in a quantity or amount (such as the number of children with dental sealants or the rate of dental caries in young children). |
Qualitative Data | Information that reflects the quality or nature of things that cannot be numerically measured or analyzed. |