The need for diversity in the health professions.
(33/198)
The Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health remains a baseline document for addressing the issues of oral health disparities in America. With the problems of access to care and quality of care, cultural differences, history of discrimination, and ongoing severity of poverty, today there are many disturbing disparities in oral health status between people of color and the majority population. While the number of people of color is increasing, the number being prepared to provide quality oral health care is declining. The nation, the dental profession, and dental schools have not made adequate progress in the effort to develop a workforce that can address the disparities in oral health problems based on race and ethnicity. The Office of the Surgeon General is developing a National Oral Health Action Plan to help address these problems, but the role of dental schools is critical. Building a pipeline that will bring diverse people to the dental workforce must be a high priority for all involved. A substantial improvement in the diversity of the oral health student body and eventual workforce is a critical and essential element to achieving the goals of improving oral health and quality of life and eliminating health disparities. (+info)
Dental informatics: an emerging biomedical informatics discipline.
(34/198)
Biomedical informatics is a maturing discipline. During the last forty years, it has developed into a research discipline of significant scale and scope. One of its subdisciplines, dental informatics, is beginning to emerge as its own entity. While there is a growing cadre of trained dental informaticians, dental faculty and administrators in general are not very familiar with dental informatics as an area of scientific inquiry. Many confuse informatics with information technology (IT), are unaware of its scientific methods and principles, and cannot relate dental informatics to biomedical informatics as a whole. This article delineates informatics from information technology and explains the types of scientific questions that dental and other informaticians typically explore. Scientific investigation in informatics centers primarily on model formulation, system development, system implementation, and the study of effects. Informatics draws its scientific methods mainly from information science, computer science, cognitive science, and telecommunications. Dental informatics shares many types of research questions and methods with its parent discipline, biomedical informatics. However, there are indications that certain research questions in dental informatics require novel solutions that have not yet been developed in other informatics fields. (+info)
PRIME--PRocess modelling in ImpleMEntation research: selecting a theoretical basis for interventions to change clinical practice.
(35/198)
BACKGROUND: Biomedical research constantly produces new findings but these are not routinely translated into health care practice. One way to address this problem is to develop effective interventions to translate research findings into practice. Currently a range of empirical interventions are available and systematic reviews of these have demonstrated that there is no single best intervention. This evidence base is difficult to use in routine settings because it cannot identify which intervention is most likely to be effective (or cost effective) in a particular situation. We need to establish a scientific rationale for interventions. As clinical practice is a form of human behaviour, theories of human behaviour that have proved useful in other similar settings may provide a basis for developing a scientific rationale for the choice of interventions to translate research findings into clinical practice. The objectives of the study are: to amplify and populate scientifically validated theories of behaviour with evidence from the experience of health professionals; to use this as a basis for developing predictive questionnaires using replicable methods; to identify which elements of the questionnaire (i.e., which theoretical constructs) predict clinical practice and distinguish between evidence compliant and non-compliant practice; and on the basis of these results, to identify variables (based on theoretical constructs) that might be prime targets for behaviour change interventions. METHODS: We will develop postal questionnaires measuring two motivational, three action and one stage theory to explore five behaviours with 800 general medical and 600 general dental practitioners. We will collect data on performance for each of the behaviours. The relationships between predictor variables (theoretical constructs) and outcome measures (data on performance) in each survey will be assessed using multiple regression analysis and structural equation modelling. In the final phase of the project, the findings from all surveys will be analysed simultaneously adopting a random effects approach to investigate whether the relationships between predictor variables and outcome measures are modified by behaviour, professional group or geographical location. (+info)
Guidelines for infection control in dental health-care settings--2003.
(36/198)
This report consolidates previous recommendations and adds new ones for infection control in dental settings. Recommendations are provided regarding 1) educating and protecting dental health-care personnel; 2) preventing transmission of bloodborne pathogens; 3) hand hygiene; 4) personal protective equipment; 5) contact dermatitis and latex hypersensitivity; 6) sterilization and disinfection of patient-care items; 7) environmental infection control; 8) dental unit waterlines, biofilm, and water quality; and 9) special considerations (e.g., dental handpieces and other devices, radiology, parenteral medications, oral surgical procedures, and dental laboratories). These recommendations were developed in collaboration with and after review by authorities on infection control from CDC and other public agencies, academia, and private and professional organizations. (+info)
Cell-transforming activity of fourteen chemical agents used in dental practice in Syrian hamster embryo cells.
(37/198)
Fourteen chemical agents used in dental practice were assessed for their cell-transforming activity using the Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cell transformation assay system. The cell-transforming activity was quantitatively assessed by the frequency of morphological transformation (MT) in SHE cells induced by these agents. MT was induced by m-cresol, guaiacol, formaldehyde, sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, sodium arsenite, acid fuchsin, and basic fuchsin, but not by p-chlorophenol, p-phenolsulfonic acid, glutaraldehyde, and erythrosine B. Iodine and chlorhexidine exhibited positive and pseudopositive responses, respectively. The chemical agents exhibiting a negative or pseudopositive response neither induced nor enhanced MT even in the presence of exogenous metabolic activation. (+info)
Silicosis in dental laboratory technicians--five states, 1994-2000.
(38/198)
Silicosis is a debilitating, sometimes fatal, yet preventable occupational lung disease caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica dust. Although crystalline silica exposure and silicosis have been associated historically with work in mining, quarrying, sandblasting, masonry, founding, and ceramics, certain materials and processes used in dental laboratories also place technicians at risk for silicosis. During 1994--2000, occupational disease surveillance programs in five states identified nine confirmed cases of silicosis among persons who worked in dental laboratories; four persons resided in Michigan, two in New Jersey, and one each in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. This report describes three of the cases and underscores the need for employers of dental laboratory technicians to ensure appropriate control of worker exposure to crystalline silica. (+info)
Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in dentists.
(39/198)
BACKGROUND: The prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints in dentists is high although relatively few studies had focus in this profession. The aim of this study was to investigate the relations between physical, psychosocial, and individual characteristics and different endpoints of musculoskeletal complaints of low back, neck, shoulders and hand/wrist. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was carried out among 430 dentists (response 88%) in Thessaloniki, Greece. Questions include data on physical and psychosocial workload, need for recovery, perceived general health and (i) the occurrence of musculoskeletal complaints in the past 12 months, (ii) chronic complaints during at least 1 month, complaints which led to (iii) sickness absence, and (iv) medical care seeking. In logistic regression analysis odds ratios were estimated for all relevant risk factors. RESULTS: 62% of dentists reported at least one musculoskeletal complaint, 30% chronic complaints, 16% had spells of absence and, 32% sought medical care. Self-reported factors of physical load were associated with the occurrence of back pain (OR = 1.59), shoulder pain (OR = 2.57) and, hand/wrist pain (OR = 3.46). With the exception of hand/wrist complaints, the physical factors were not associated with chronic complaints and musculoskeletal sickness absence. Physical load showed a trend with the number of musculoskeletal complaints with ORs of 2.50, 3.07 and 4.40 for two, three and four musculoskeletal complaints, respectively. No consistent influence of psychosocial factors on complaints, chronicity, sickness absence and medical care seeking was observed. A perceived moderate general health was a significant factor for chronic complaints, comorbidity and medical care seeking where high perceived exertion was significant for absenteeism. Living alone was also related with increased absenteeism due to shoulder pain (OR = 5.01) and hand/wrist (OR = 4.07). CONCLUSIONS: The physical load among dentists seems to put them at risk for the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders. More than one and severe complaints are related to perceived general health while high perceived exertion and social characteristics are associated with sickness absence. Chronic symptoms seem to determine medical care seeking. Ergonomic interventions may have a greater impact in prevention of hand/wrist complaints. When investigating the influence of work-related risk factors on musculoskeletal health, psychosocial and other personal characteristics should be taken into account. (+info)
Clinical decision support systems: perspectives in dentistry.
(40/198)
Clinical decision-support systems (CDSSs) are computer programs that are designed to provide expert support for health professionals making clinical decisions. The goal of these systems is to help health professionals analyze patient data and make decisions regarding diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of health problems. This article discusses the characteristics of such systems, addresses the challenges in developing them, identifies potential barriers for their use in clinical practice, and provides perspectives for the future. (+info)