Early Childhood Caries (ECC) has been recognized by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry [1] as a “significant public health problem” and it still affects a large number of children worldwide [2,3]. Dye et al. [3], stated that dental caries is “the most common chronic disease of childhood in the United States”. Even though caries in itself is not life-threatening, the extent of this oral health problem is of major significance as it ultimately has an impact on general health and well-being and affects the quality of life. Untreated dental caries can lead to abscess formation and the resultant pain can influence the ability of children to function optimally in their day to day lives [4]. Decay of the primary dentition is also one of the main reasons why children are hospitalized [2]. These children are often under the age of 5 years, cooperation is usually poor. This means that more expensive treatment options such as general anesthesia or sedation have to be considered in most cases [4,5].

Objective: To develop risk adjustment models for cost evaluation in primary health care in Italy based on administrative databases. Setting: The 2007 administrative databases from the National Health Service of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region were the data source. Data referred to the general population and included information on the use of health services (inpatient, outpatient, medication, home care) as well as on the major chronic health problems. Data included persons who, for their health condition, must not pay the contribution usually required for using health services (ticket exemption). Design: Multilevel (multivariate) statistical analysis, where the tariff of services or the price of drugs (both summed up and separated) were the dependent variables, and the health conditions and other variables related to the citizens were the predictive variables.

Health is difficult to define while healthcare relates to the various services available. Recent election campaigns within the United- Kingdom seemed to conflate the terms health and healthcare. Healthcare investment is not a guarantee of improved health, a point the general public may fully not appreciate. Recently, I attended a meeting in west Wales with a community group. Their interest in health was focused on healthcare, so we discussed an alternative model:Health determinants include alcohol intake, smoking, diet and exercise. Some of these will have underlying factors, such as poverty, low self-esteem or educational attainment.

Background: In the past two decades negative attitudes towards vaccination has surfaced among parents. These concerns are related to safety, adverse effects, lifestyle and religious issues. The present study focuses on compensatory health beliefs (CHB), the beliefs that the adverse consequences of one health behavior are compensated by another health behavior, and examines whether CHB predicts behavior and mediates the association between the intention to vaccinate one’s children and vaccination behavior.

Introduction: Dietary intake has a significant role in promoting health and preventing disease. Family meals have been associated with higher nutrient intake, lower obesity rates, and other social benefits, yet little is known about what influences family meal frequency.