What are the research priorities of Canadian dentists?
(57/580)
A joint CDA-Institutes of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis study was undertaken to evaluate the dental research priorities of Canadian dentists. A self-complete questionnaire was sent to all dentists in Canada with the December 2001 JCDA. This last article in a 3-part series presents the results on funding priorities. By April 1, 2002, 2,788 questionnaires, representing a response rate of approximately 16%, had been returned. Of 8 broad areas of research, respondents identified areas related to treatments as the most important: 77% cited the evaluation of the effectiveness of techniques and treatments as high priority, 76% the development of treatments and 70% the development of materials. The areas judged less important were improvements in access to care (42%) and a better understanding of patient behaviour (25%). With respect to more specific research topics, the highest priority subjects were dental materials other than amalgam and periodontal diseases. (+info)
The impact of attendance patterns on oral health in a general dental practice.
(58/580)
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of attendance patterns on oral health in the context of government policy on dental care and registration in the UK. METHOD: The data involved 643 consecutive patient responses to a questionnaire on dental health taken from a survey that was conducted during 1998 in an urban area of Swansea. The survey continued for a period of six months and covered patients of 18 years of age and over, responding to a questionnaire on the subjective oral health status indicators including the pattern of their attendance to dental practices. RESULTS: Regular dental care attendance has a significant positive impact on dental health while its impact on the number of teeth present is insignificant. Regular attendees also suffer significantly less from the severity, prevalence, social and psychological impacts of dental health problems. CONCLUSION: Regular dental attendance is associated with better oral health when regularity of care is defined as a visit within a two-year period. The rationality of a 15 month registration period is therefore debatable in the context of developing equitable services. (+info)
Evaluation of a clinical outcomes assessment tool in a U.S. dental school.
(59/580)
Quality assurance (QA) programs in dental schools have a component of their program devoted to treatment outcomes. To this end, our institution has implemented TOUCH (Treatment Outcomes Unacceptable for Clinical Health) seminars and Unusual Occurrence Reports (UORs). The seminars allow a faculty member to present a case to faculty and students with feedback from the audience on how the case was managed. The UORs track clinical incidents outside the range of normal. Participation in both of these QA measures has been less than expected. The goal of the current study was to discover the reasons for participation and lack of participation. A twelve-item survey was completed by seventy-one clinical faculty members and analyzed for trends. Faculty report only 28.3 percent of the unacceptable outcome cases they know about. The two most common reasons given for reporting an unusual occurrence were that it would help the institution reduce similar incidents and it would provide an opportunity to share learning experiences. The most common reason given for not reporting an unusual occurrence was not remembering to do so. Faculty members were most willing to present a TOUCH seminar if guaranteed that no negative repercussions would result. Suggestions for increasing participation in both programs include emphasizing their value, modifying the seminar format, providing more reminders, and reassuring against repercussions. (+info)
Unconventional dentistry: Part IV. Unconventional dental practices and products.
(60/580)
This is the fourth in a series of 5 articles providing a contemporary overview and introduction to unconventional dentistry (UD) and its correlation to unconventional medicine (UM). Several common UD and UM practices are described to familiarize practitioners with a variety of theories, practices, products and treatments that specifically apply to dentistry. This brief review is not intended as an in-depth resource. (+info)
A prospective study of the validity of self-reported use of specific types of dental services.
(61/580)
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to quantify the validity of self-reported receipt of dental services in 10 categories, using information from dental charts as the "gold standard." METHODS: The Florida Dental Care Study was a prospective cohort study of a diverse sample of adults. In-person interviews were conducted at baseline and at 24 and 48 months following baseline, with telephone interviews at six-month intervals in between. Participants reported new dental visits, reason(s) for the visit(s), and specific service(s) received. For the present study, self-reported data were compared with data from patients' dental charts. RESULTS: Percent concordance between self-report and dental charts ranged from 82% to 100%, while Kappa values ranged from 0.33 to 0.91. Bivariate multiple logistic regressions were performed for each of the service categories, with two outcomes: self-reported service receipt and service receipt determined from the dental chart. Parameter estimate intervals overlapped for each of the four hypothesized predictors of service receipt (age group, sex, "race" defined as non-Hispanic African American vs. non-Hispanic white, and annual household income < 20,000 US dollars vs. > or = 20,000 US dollars), although for five of the 10 service categories, there were differences in conclusions about statistical significance for certain predictors. CONCLUSIONS: The validity of self-reported use of dental services ranged from poor to excellent, depending upon the service type. Regression estimates using either the self-reported or chart-validated measure yielded similar results overall, but conclusions about key predictors of service use differed in some instances. Self-reported dental service use is valid for some, but not all, service types. (+info)
Dental treatment under general anesthesia: a useful procedure in the third millennium? (l).
(62/580)
Advances in medical science have increasingly extended human life expectancy, thereby increasing the number of risk patients who require dental treatment under conditions of maximum safety. On the other hand, a part of the population presents physical or mental impairments which preclude minimum cooperation with the dental professional to ensure treatment with the necessary guarantees. Dentists and stomatologists must therefore consider the possibility of performing general anesthesia in these special patients, as the only way to ensure adequate dental treatment. (+info)
Dental licensure reaches a crossroads: the rationale and method for reform.
(63/580)
Following calls to reform the dental licensure process, New York state has adopted an innovative approach that is responsive to the perceived shortcomings of the existing Part III examination. This solution eliminates the legally, psychometrically, and ethically compromised system, replacing it with a requirement that both ensures the public's protection and gives the new dentist additional experience in contemporary procedures in a supervised setting. The best preparation for the practice of dentistry is the practice of dentistry--something so profound and simple; yet it constitutes the core of New York's revolutionary reform. And the best way to measure that preparation for initial licensure is with the continual evaluation that occurs during the postdoctoral experience. New York is the first state to allow applicants for licensure to substitute the successful completion of a postdoctoral clinical program--a test in itself--for the traditional clinical licensure examination. The primary objective of this reform is to improve the quality of dentistry by elevating the standards for licensure. New York's expanded training protocol parallels that of medicine and reflects developments in the science and practice of the dental profession. The introduction of this new professional training model renders the clinical examination requirement obsolete. The fundamental principle of New York's new system is that a clinical examination is unnecessary to verify that a dentist is competent to enter practice following postdoctoral clinical training consisting of ongoing patient care, continuous oversight, mentoring, and evaluation. (+info)
Clinical recovery time from conscious sedation for dental outpatients.
(64/580)
For dental outpatients undergoing conscious sedation, recovery from sedation must be sufficient to allow safe discharge home, and many researchers have defined "recovery time" as the time until the patient was permitted to return home after the end of dental treatment. But it is frequently observed that patients remain in the clinic after receiving permission to go home. The present study investigated "clinical recovery time," which is defined as the time until discharge from the clinic after a dental procedure. We analyzed data from 61 outpatients who had received dental treatment under conscious sedation at the Hiroshima University Dental Hospital between January 1998 and December 2000 (nitrous oxide-oxygen inhalation sedation [n = 35], intravenous sedation with midazolam [n = 10], intravenous sedation with propofol [n = 16]). We found that the median clinical recovery time was 40 minutes after nitrous oxide-oxygen sedation, 80 minutes after midazolam sedation, and 52 minutes after propofol sedation. The clinical recovery time was about twice as long as the recovery time described in previous studies. In a comparison of the sedation methods, clinical recovery time differed (P = .0008), being longer in the midazolam sedation group than in the nitrous oxide-oxygen sedation group (P = .018). These results suggest the need for changes in treatment planning for dental outpatients undergoing conscious sedation. (+info)