June 2015

Editorial Advancing the scientific basis of oral health education Ronnie Levine One of the greatest barriers to encouraging and enabling individuals to take greater control over their own health is confusing and sometimes conflicting health messages, occasionally in the media but sometimes from professional sources and advisors. The problem for dental health education had become apparent by the 1970s and was approached in the UK by the Health Education Council who organized a seminar in 1971 to consider the scientific evidence supporting dental health education messages. A further review of the evidence was being planned in 1976 when it was learned that the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry was also developing a similar approach. This led to a joint initiative aimed at establishing a scientific basis for dental health education to help standardise the advice given to the public and to ensure that such advice was scientifically sound. The initiative took the form of a seminar at which a group of dental scientists actively engaged in research presented position papers on the cause and prevention of periodontal disease and caries to a group of leading experts and authorities in preventive dentistry. These position papers and the discussion that followed were then edited into a final document by Michael Lennon, the present editor of this journal. In 1976 the document was published by the Health Education Council with the title - The Scientific Basis of Dental Health Education, a policy document. It was a slim document with a green cover.