Oral Health Policy Amicable for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Nations

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and geopolitical cooperation among eight member nations namely Sri Lanka that are primarily located in South Asia continent (1). There is an urgent need to formulate a common oral health policy feasible for SAARC nations. The oral health policy for SAARC nations should rely on the preventive, interceptive and rehabilitative approach towards oral and dental diseases. The three pillars essential for oral health programs are oral health education or instruction, primary prevention measures and secondary prevention measures (2). The primary prevention includes " those measures taken prior to the commencement of disease for avoidance or removal of caus-ative factors " (3). It include fluoridation (topical and systemic), plaque control, diet counseling, oral cancer or smokeless tobacco use and hazards counseling and pit and fissure sealant program. The primary prevention strategy should be implemented in Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres. The secondary prevention includes " intercepting disease in its early stage so that the destruction and subsequent repair is minimum " or in other words, there is utilization of following dental specialties such as oral medicine and radiology, oral pathology and microbiology, periodontics, operative dentistry and endodontics, orthodontics and oral surgery(3). The secondary prevention strategy should be implemented in Taluk Hospitals, District Hospitals and General Hospitals. " The tertiary prevention includes those measures taken to prevent further destruction from the disease " (3). In tertiary prevention, the prosthodon-tics specialty is utilized along with sophisticated implant dentistry. The tertiary prevention strategy is utilized for geriatric dental care. Oral cancer is most prevalent among young population who are using smokeless form of tobacco as revealed by studies from Pakistan and India (4, 5). On the other hand, tobacco-associated lesions such as oral leukoplakia and oral sub mucous fi-brosis are the potentially malignant disorders of the oral mucosa that are seen in the young adolescent population in SAARC nations (6). Tobacco cessation clinics and oral cancer detection clinics should be implemented effectively in Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centers (7). Mobile dental unit is an effective method to deliver oral health-care in the public sector. It should be implemented in health sector in multiple situations , such as educating school children regarding oral health, screening of the population for various oral diseases, school and community dental health program such as sealant application program , providing both preventive and curative services …