Oral health surveillance 1 article

Oral health surveillance is the ongoing, systematic collection and interpretation of population data used to track oral disease, risk factors, service use and inequalities over time. Sources can include national surveys, school examinations, administrative datasets, registries or sentinel systems, with repeated measures allowing trends to be identified. Surveillance differs from a one-off research study because continuity is central: standardized definitions and methods are needed so changes in caries, periodontal status or tooth loss reflect real trends rather than altered measurement.