Dr Rapeah Mohd Yassin

Senior Principal Assistant Director, Oral Health Division, Pahang State Health Department

Dr Rapeah binti Mohd Yassin is a Dental Public Health Specialist, now serving as Senior Principal Assistant Director for the Oral Health Division, Pahang State Health Department. She obtained her first degree from the University of Malaya (1994) and she also holds Masters of Community Medicine (Oral Health) (2005) from University of Science Malaysia. With her experience and academic background, without doubt, she holds a track record of active involvement in the administrative and governance at the district as well as at the state level. She also involve in National Oral Health Epidemiological Surveys since 2005 for preschool, schoolchildren and adults. She is also shows her interest in research and as co-researchers in various research projects conducted at state level. She has presented numerous research papers at a number of international and local conferences.

Caries Prevention Programme among Toddlers in Pahang

Early Childhood Caries remains the significant Pulic Health Problem in both developing and developed countries worldwide. National Oral Health Plan for Malaysia aimed at 50% of 6-year-old children is caries-free in the year 2020. In Pahang, the prevalence of caries among 5-year-old preschool children was 85.1% (2005) as compared to 76.2% (2005) for Malaysia and mean dft score was 5.50 (2005) as compared to 6.0 (2005) for Malaysia. Pahang State Health Department had introduced “Toddlers’ Adoption Program” to strengthen oral healthcare amongst children. The dental nurse act as an “Adoptive Mother” for a period of 4 years. Anticipatory guidance were delivered to the parents and mouth examination and fluoride varnish (FV) application using 5% Sodium Fluoride [22,600ppm] on the deciduous teeth were carried out by a method of “Knee-to-knee” position and “Lift the lips” technique. Compliance refers to those “Adopted toddlers” who attended all their seven scheduled appointments from the age of one to four years old at every 6 months interval. Percentage of children with Caries-Free-Mouth (CFM) status upon graduation was the impact indicator monitored to analyse the success of the programme. Five batches of toddlers graduated from this programme since 2012 to year 2016. About 130 to 147 dental nurses involved in this program as “Adopted Mother” each year and a total number of 3,012 of toddlers recruited in the program. Two thousand two hundred and eighty one (75.7%) complied and graduated at the aged of 4-years-old. Compliance rate obtained range from 61.1% to 86.4% and percentage of CFM range from 63.8% to 82.3%. Fluoride varnish application amongst toddlers in Pahang found that “Adopted Toddlers” exhibit significantly better oral health status as compared to their non-adopted counterparts (p=0.01). Empowerment of parents/caregivers and the clinical preventive application using fluoride varnish among young children were proven effective for their oral healthcare and will be expanded for higher coverage of toddlers.