| One problem dental public health administrators or policy makers often face is difficulty in choosing among alternate dental caries preventive programs, including the option of no preventive program at all. Questions on what can be prevented and at what cost and by what means are always present. The aim of this project is to develop a Knowledge-Based Expert System (KBES) prototype to guide the planning of dental caries preventive programs. While a final choice must include judgment on the part of local decision makers, such a computer program may offer a valuable framework to guide the process of choice. The KBES prototype has been called Preventive Program Model (PPM) and was developed using the C Language Integrated Production System (Clips). It has three modules: (1) strategies recommended for fluoride-, diet- and sealant-based programs, (2) efficacy/effectiveness of dental caries preventive measures, and (3) an estimation model for the effectiveness of the sealant-based program. A pilot validation questionnaire completed by 13 dental experts (N = 18) tested the program input, output and the reasoning process. Fifty percent of respondents agreed that there was enough input information to recommend particular strategies and, 80% of the PPM outcomes for Module 1 were equivalent to the answers given by at least 50% of such respondents. In Module 3, the PPM estimation on the effectiveness of pit-and-fissure sealants gave comparable results to expert estimation. Such results suggest the potential use of knowledge-based expert systems in public health programs. |
