Journal vol.1 no.1 abstract7 of The Japan Health Care Dental Association

The Journal of The Japan Health Care Dental Association Vol.1 No.1, 1999
abstract

Masaaki Sasaki

I am in the 7th year as a school dentist at an elementary school. Between the first 3 years and the following years of this period, my thought for diseases, measures for health examination, standard of diagnosis, and measures for coping with diseases changed greatly. With these alteration, DMFT index showed remarkable change. I had understood that the public health activity was just a principle and therefore the real activity existed in the site of the clinical practices. In the first 3 years, backed with this understanding, I concentrated only on accurate handling of school dental health examination. This can be related to current Japanese health insurance practices, which advocates the theme of 8020, keeping 20 natural teeth at the age of 80 years old, in principle, while the priority is placed on the treatment. I had managed people focusing on the dental practice, but the dental health activity at a school provided me a best chance of social study, where I was able to learn variety of different thoughts or values of people. It also taught me the importance of taking a consistent attitude towards " protecting and nursing health and enhancing the health value".