Oral cancer prevention and early detection: knowledge, practices, and opinions of oral health care providers in New York State.
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BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, practices, and opinions of dentists and dental hygienists in New York State regarding oral cancer prevention and early detection. METHOD: We sent questionnaires to a stratified random sample of dentists and dental hygienists selected from a list of licensed oral health care providers in New York State. We analyzed responses to the questionnaires, and we derived descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The effective response rate was 55% and 65% among dentists and dental hygienists, respectively. About 85% of dentists and 78% of dental hygienists reported providing annual oral cancer examination to their patients aged 40 and above. Although a majority assessed tobacco use, fewer practitioners assessed alcohol use. Both dentists and dental hygienists lacked knowledge in some aspects of risk factors, signs, and symptoms of oral cancer. However, dentists had significantly higher knowledge scores than dental hygienists. CONCLUSION: Dentists and dental hygienists in New York State are knowledgeable about oral cancer, but there are gaps in the knowledge of certain risk factors and in the oral cancer examination technique. (+info)
A study of military recruitment strategies for dentists: possible implications for academia.
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Results of the annual American Dental Education Association surveys of dental school seniors show approximately 10 percent of graduates enter federal government services while less than 1 percent enter dental academia. To examine this difference, this study sought the perceptions of senior dental students and junior military dental officers regarding their choice of a military career in order to determine how military recruitment strategies influenced their career decisions. Official documents explaining military recruitment efforts were requested from the military services and summarized. In-depth telephone interviews were conducted to gather perception data from the students and dental officers on successful strategies. By employing several strategies, the military was able to inform potential recruits about the benefits of being a dentist in the military. The opportunity to have the military finance a student's dental education was a successful military recruitment tool. Other enticing factors included guaranteed employment upon graduation, prestige associated with serving in the military, access to postgraduate training, minimal practice management responsibilities, and opportunities to continue learning and improve clinical skills without significant financial implications. It was concluded that dental education can use the same strategies to highlight the benefits of an academic career and offer many similar incentives that may encourage students to consider a career path in dental education. (+info)
Incorporating leadership knowledge and skills into the dental education community.
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Leadership has been studied for the past four decades with an emphasis upon leadership and the transformation of various cultures, especially within the private sector. It is also becoming evident that leaders and leadership skills are often derived from core personal values and perceptions of what is and what could be. This summary describes an eleven-week selective course termed "Dean's Leadership Course" at the School of Dentistry at the University of Southern California. This selective course (a non-credit elective learning opportunity outside the formal curriculum) recruits a modest team of learners consisting of faculty, staff, and students and approaches leadership within the context of a "learning organization" coupled with case-based and problem-based learning. At the conclusion of this eleven-week course, participants are granted continuing education credit. This summary encourages others in dental education to consider the compelling opportunity to nurture and cultivate leadership within the university dental school environs. (+info)
Does faculty development enhance teaching effectiveness?
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Academic dentists and members of the practice community have been hearing, for more than a decade, that our educational system is in trouble and that the profession has lost its vision and may be wavering in the achievement of its goals. A core of consistently recommended reforms has framed the discussion of future directions for dental education, but as yet, most schools report little movement toward implementation of these reforms in spite of persistent advocacy. Provision of faculty development related to teaching and assessment strategies is widely perceived to be the essential ingredient in efforts to introduce new curricular approaches and modify the educational environment in academic dentistry. Analyses of the outcomes of efforts to revise health professions curricula have identified the availability and effectiveness of faculty development as a predictor of the success or failure of reform initiatives. This article will address faculty development for purposes of enhancing teaching effectiveness and preparing instructors for potential new roles associated with curriculum changes. Its overall purpose is to provide information and insights about faculty development that may be useful to dental schools in designing professional growth opportunities for their faculty. Seven questions are addressed: 1) What is faculty development? 2) How is faculty development accomplished? 3) Why is faculty development particularly important in dental education? 4) What happens when faculty development does not accompany educational reform? 5) Why are teaching attitudes and behaviors so difficult to change? 6) What outcomes can be expected from faculty development? and 7) What does the available evidence tell us about the design of faculty development programs? Evidence from systematic reviews pertaining to the teaching of evidence-based dentistry, strategies for continuing professional education, and the Best Evidence in Medical Education review of faculty development outcomes are presented to answer this question: does faculty development enhance teaching effectiveness? Characteristics consistently associated with effective faculty development are described. (+info)
Analysis of the knowledge and opinions of students and qualified dentists regarding the use of computers.
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Dentists are currently required to make multiple diagnoses and treatment decisions every day and the information necessary to achieve this satisfactorily doubles in volume every five years. Knowledge therefore rapidly becomes out of date, so that it is often impossible to remember established information and assimilate new concepts. This may result in a significant lack of knowledge in the future, which would jeopardize the success of treatments. To remedy this situation and to prevent it, we nowadays have access to modern computing systems, with an extensive data base, which helps us to retain the information necessary for daily practice and access it instantaneously. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are therefore to determine how widespread the use of computing is in this environment and to determine the opinion of students and qualified dentists as regards its use in Dentistry. STUDY DESIGN: 90 people were chosen to take part in the study, divided into the following groups (students) (newly qualified dentists) (experts). RESULTS: It has been demonstrated that a high percentage (93.30%) use a computer, but that their level of computing knowledge is predominantly moderate. The place where a computer is used most is the home, which suggests that the majority own a computer. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the results obtained for evaluation of computers in teaching showed that the participants thought that it saved a great deal of time and had great potential for providing an image (in terms of marketing) and they considered it a very innovative and stimulating tool. (+info)
Introducing dental students to evidence-based decisions in dental care.
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Practicing evidence-based dentistry is a process of lifelong and self-directed learning. Teaching evidence-based dentistry to dental students is the key to increasing the uptake of evidence-based treatments and practices in dentistry. This article describes the procedures undertaken to teach undergraduate dental students at the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry how to produce systematic reviews as a module in clinical epidemiology. Nine selected reports have been summarized as examples of the outputs of this module. At the end of the module, students are asked to participate in a survey and anonymously fill out a questionnaire to evaluate the module. Students' evaluation of the module in the 2005-06 (n= 64) and 2006-07 (n=57) academic years were extracted for data analysis. Overall, the majority of students found the module an enjoyable way of learning that has improved their ability to gather information, apply existing evidence to a clinical question, evaluate information, and further develop their communication skills. This module was also effective in raising students' awareness of the importance of evidence-based clinical practice. It is essential to establish the fundamentals of evidence-based practice during the undergraduate curriculum to assist dental students in learning the skills to practice evidence-based dentistry. (+info)
Delays in diagnosis of head and neck cancers.
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BACKGROUND: Delayed diagnosis of head and neck cancer is often caused by patient related factors. However, the primary health care provider may also be responsible. OBJECTIVES: To define patient, professional and total delay, and to identify factors that may increase delay. METHODS: The study group consisted of 102 patients with oral or pharyngeal cancer referred to Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario. The study took place from September 2005 to September 2006. RESULTS: Median patient, professional and total delays were 4.5 weeks, 11.8 weeks and 22.5 weeks, respectively. Significantly longer delays were found among women(p < 0.01), non-smokers (p < 0.01), patients who were not referred following initial consultation(p < 0.001) and patients who did not visit their dentist (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should adopt a "universal index of suspicion" in screening for head and neck cancer, with attention to the risk indicators for delay. Patients must also be encouraged to visit their dentist regularly to increase the rate of early detection. (+info)
Continuing professional development of dental practitioners in Prato, Italy.
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The three objectives of this study were 1) to evaluate the frequency of access to instruments of continuing education by dental practitioners belonging to the Order of Dental Practitioners of the Province of Prato, Italy; 2) to ascertain their understanding and use of evidence-based medicine; and 3) to identify their preferences for obtaining continuing education in dental therapy. Of the 177 members of this order, 123 (69 percent) responded to a telephone interview. The typical dentist of Prato reads articles in Italian journals once a week, consults colleagues once a week, reads books once a month, accesses the Internet every three months, goes to congresses or courses every six months, and does not read articles published in international journals. Forty-one percent of those interviewed did not know the meaning of the term "evidence-based medicine." Practical training was considered the most important form of update in therapy and reaches statistical significance (p<0.05) when compared to consultation with colleagues, videos, and the Internet (which received the lowest score). The conclusions were that dentists of Prato obtain continuing education episodically and in a passive way. They do not understand the concept of evidence-based medicine and often employ it superficially. (+info)