| preventive | 1. Going before; preceding. "Any previous counsel or preventive understanding." (Cudworth) 2. Tending to defeat or hinder; obviating; preventing the access of; as, a medicine preventive of disease. "Physic is either curative or preventive." (Sir T. Browne) Preventive service, the duty performed by the armed police in guarding the coast against smuggling. Origin: Cf. F. Preventif. That which prevents, hinders, or obstructs; that which intercepts access; in medicine, something to prevent disease; a prophylactic. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| preventive dentistry | The branch of dentistry concerned with the prevention of disease and the maintenance and promotion of oral health. (12 Dec 1998) |
| preventive dose | The smallest amount of any substance that will prevent occurrence of symptoms of a disease or the consequences of a lack of a particular factor in the diet. (05 Mar 2000) |
| preventive health services | Services designed for promotion of health and prevention of disease. (12 Dec 1998) |
| preventive medicine | Medicine designed to avert and avoid disease. Screening for hypertension and treating it before it causes disease is good preventive medicine. Preventive medicine is a proactive approach. (12 Dec 1998) |
| preventive psychiatry | A discipline concerned with the prevention of mental illness and the promotion of mental health. (12 Dec 1998) |
| preventive treatment | The institution of measures designed to protect a person from an attack of a disease to which he has been, or is liable to be exposed. Synonym: preventive treatment. (05 Mar 2000) |