**Public Health Dentistry and Epidemiology**

168 Oral Health Care – Pediatric, Research, Epidemiology and Clinical Practices

However, this analysis has some limitations. Besides being restricted to countries that are part of the regional offices of the WHO, some countries had no data available on oral health. Another factor was wide variations in the years to disseminate the studies. It was observed studies from 1973 to 2008. This distance of 35 years makes comparisons very weak and outdated. However, this evidence should be that the countries and regions where data are more outdated, especially countries in the AFRO, pay greater attention to the

The existence of information about the DMFT index for most WHO member states legitimize this indicator as a measure universally accepted and used for global comparisons. However, the lack of other oral health indicators reduces to only one face of its characteristics and consequences. Index that measure other dimensions, such as periodontal disease, tooth loss and access to oral health services should have the same range observed in

It was observed that all regions had an average of DMFT below 3, which represents the achievement of targets set by WHO for the year 2000. However, there was wide variation between countries. Moreover, it is noteworthy that this global ecological analysis, assuming the countries as units of analysis, it homogeneous areas with large heterogeneities in their local realities. Studies with smaller units, with increased geographic scale are needed to

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**7. References** 

**9** 

Kadriye Peker

*Turkey* 

**The Determinants of** 

**Self–Rated Oral Health in Istanbul Adults** 

No studies have been published on a comprehensive appraisal of the full range of factors that may affect Turkish adults' perceptions of their oral health status, as measured by a single item. Understanding the local context of self–rated oral health (SROH) and its determinants within Turkish culture will be important to develop oral health policy and to design oral health promotion programs for adults. Oral diseases, primarily dental caries and periodontal diseases, are major public health problems in Turkey (Gökalp et al., 2010). Oral health care resources are primarily allocated to curative care without an underlying oral health policy. The government's oral health care budget and the existing oral health services are inadequate to meet increasing oral health needs and demands of the adult population (Kargul & Bakkal, 2010). Utilization of oral health care services is low, and the oral health visits are usually problem-oriented (Gökalp et al., 2010; Kargul &

In Turkey, most studies of adults have focused dominantly on biological, clinical and behavioral health risk factors of oral diseases (Akarslan et al., 2008; Gökalp et al., 2010; Namal et al., 2008; Oztürk et al., 2008; Unlüer et al., 2007). In the past decade, few studies using validated subjective oral health measures have been conducted to verify the impact of different oral disorders and prosthodontic treatments on oral health quality of life in Turkish patients groups (Arslan et al., 2009; Baran & Nalcaci, 2011; Caglayan et al., 2009; Geckili et al., 2011). To the best of your knowledge, there is one published study that investigated the relationships among oral health beliefs, oral health behaviors, socio-

SROH is an assessment of the functional, psychological, and social impact of oral disease and disorder on overall well being (Locker & Gibson, 2005). Although different approaches are available for evaluating self-perceived oral health, single-item indicators have frequently been used because they represent a valid and simple measure for evaluating oral health– related outcomes and summarizing oral health status (Dolan et al., 1998; Locker & Gibson, 2005). Most studies have been conducted with samples of adults, and findings indicate this measure is fairly stable over time (Peek et al., 1999), and positively associated with clinical assessment of oral health status (Gilbert et al., 1998; Kim et al., 2010; Pattussi et al., 2010; Peek et al., 1999). Over the past two decades there has been growing interest in examining individuals' SROH (Atchison & Andersen, 2000; Gilbert et al., 1998; Locker et al., 2005,

demographic factors and SROH (Peker & Bermek, 2011).

**1. Introduction** 

Bakkal, 2010).

*Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Istanbul University* 
