Putting technology in place successfully.
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BACKGROUND: This article discusses how to integrate clinical and administrative workstations into your dental practice from the planning phase to the implementation phase. The author discusses the costs that are associated with integrating technology, as well as the hardware components and configuration. He then discusses in greater detail the core clinical technologies and how they tie in together to facilitate building a cohesive digital patient record. CONCLUSIONS: There are no shortcuts to successfully integrating technology into a dental practice. A significant commitment of time, energy and money is a prerequisite to building a secure and reliable computer network that incorporates all clinical and administrative applications. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Technology is reinventing the world, and dentists need to keep pace with the people they serve. These new and not-so-new technologies will enhance dental services and productivity, which ultimately will raise the bar for the standard of care in dentistry. (+info)
Measuring failure of orthodontic treatment: a comparison of outcome indicators.
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OBJECTIVE: To compare treatment failure rates on a sample of completed and discontinued orthodontic treatment cases as measured by PAR, IOTN and ICON to determine whether the use of a sole index would suffice. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: All patients completing or discontinuing orthodontic treatment in the hospital orthodontic departments in the Northern Region during two calendar months were identified and pre and post-treatment models were analysed. PAR scores, IOTN (DHC and AC) and ICON were recorded. RESULTS: One-hundred-and-forty-five cases were identified and 15 had incomplete records on the day of analysis. The final sample was therefore 130. The overall treatment discontinuation rate of these 130 patients was 24.6%. The treatment failure rate with respect to occlusal improvement varied from 3.1% when measured by PAR and 10.0% using ICON. With respect to residual need it varied from 0.77 to 20.1% with respect to IOTN depending on the criteria examined. The residual treatment need with respect to ICON was 17.2%. CONCLUSIONS: Different occlusal indices give differing failure rates when used on the same patients with ICON being the most critical index. We felt that ICON was the most valid with respect to identifying treatment failure. Its use would enable international comparison of results. (+info)
Vital sign, or none of our business?
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For the first time in the history of the NHS, the Department of Health has issued guidelines for a national smoking cessation policy in England. The recommendations include guidance to all health commissioners on the introduction of 'systems to maintain an up to date record of the smoking status of all patients in their notes. It should be regarded as a vital sign.' (+info)
DVI System International: software assisting in the Thai tsunami victim identification process.
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DVI System International is software that operates on the PC-Windows platform. It is capable of managing aspects of identification in day-to-day cases and major disasters, where it has particular advantages when victims of several nationalities are involved. The system uses Interpol forms as standard protocols for input and transfer of antemortem and postmortem information. Following the Thai Tsunami Disaster of 26 December 2004, Interpol recommended that its member country Thailand use DVI System International software, as it is one of the few internationally approved systems. This paper focuses on the concepts upon which the dental forms, F1 and F2, of the DVI System International are designed, describes how it works and some of the adjustments implemented during the ongoing Thai Tsunami Victim Identification process. (+info)
Thai tsunami victim identification overview to date.
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The boxing day tsunami of 26 December 2004 caused devastation and loss of life around the Indian ocean. International disaster victim identification efforts were centred in Thailand, with many odontologists from over 20 countries contributing to the examination of deceased, collection of antemortem information, comparison and reconciliation of data. The contribution of forensic odontology to the identification process conducted in Thailand in response to the tsunami devastation is presented in a composite of short reports focused on the five phases associated with disaster victim identification. To date 1,474 deceased have been identified. Dental comparison has been the primary identifier in 79% of cases and a contributor in another 8%, a total of 87%. (+info)
Digital diagnosis records in orthodontics. An overview.
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Digital technology is becoming day by day a more important procedure in most of the clinic activities and, thus, orthodontists are increasingly adding digital technology to their orthodontics records. In this article we want to outline the advantages and disadvantages of the use of digital photography, digital radiography as well as one of the latest developments: the digital study stone casts. We will also present the state of the art related to dentists that use these digital records routinely in our country. (+info)
Dental records: a Belgium study.
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The aim of this study was to deduce the quality of the average dental record kept by Belgian dentists and to evaluate its potential use for forensic dental casework. The evaluated material originated from 598 Dutch speaking and 124 French speaking Belgian dentists who completed a questionnaire and returned it by mail or through the internet. The age of the participating dentists ranged from 22 to 72 years of age. The results of the inquiry were statistically analysed taking parameters such as language, gender, age, university and ZIP code into account. In general there was a tendency for the young dentists from the age category 22 to 34 years of age, especially those living in larger cities, to perform better on several of the questions asked such as completion of the dental record, storage of x-rays, working with digital x-rays and a digital dental record. (+info)
A computerized system to conduct the Tweed-Merrifield analysis in orthodontics.
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Precision in orthodontic diagnosis can increase the chance of therapeutic success. The objective of this study was to describe the development of a computerized system (prototype), created from a printed table of the Cranial Facial Analysis and Total Dentition Space Analysis with Difficulty Index--Tweed-Merrifield Analysis--in order to aid orthodontic diagnosis. The analysis was transposed from the manual format to the digital format. A user-logical and clear interface was sought for the development of the prototype, consisting of tables and graphs, including automatic, fast and accurate calculations. The result was the immediate visualization of the resolution of the analysis after filling out the fields on the computer. This technological innovation can be a helpful instrument for the orthodontist that favors a more accurate dental-cranial-facial analysis, increases patient safety, orients conduct and may contribute to teaching and research. (+info)