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Biomedical subjects

D A Nash

Publications and source records attributed to D A Nash.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

A pragmatic primer ... lessons from natural science for the profession of dentistry.

Artificially supplementing our community water supplies with optimal amounts of fluoride to gain the benefits of a significant reduction in dental caries is a lesson we have learned from natural science, a lesson from nature we have appropriated for culture- and a very pragmatic lesson. Today, we have discovered through science additional principles of nature that can be instructive and that can be appropriated for the profession of dentistry's benefit. This paper reviews five principles of natural science and derives lessons for the profession from these principles. The principles include natural selection, environmental change, form follows function, symbiosis, and entropy. Lessons derived from these principles of natural science are, respectively: survival and thriving of the profession are dependent upon the environment; the status quo will not be maintained-the profession must acknowledge, encourage, and celebrate change; the form the profession assumes must be consistent with its function of serving society; the profession must acknowledge the interdependence and reciprocity existing in its relationship with society; and the profession must continuously, energetically, and creatively reconstruct and renew itself. The challenge before us is to transform dentistry into a profession that continuously anticipates environmental changes by energetically creating new forms or structures that will result in more effective fulfillment of our function: gaining the benefits of oral health for society.

Community-Institutional Relations↗
PubMed1996

"The profession of dentistry:" the University of Kentucky's curriculum in professional ethics.

Among the most important learning that occurs in our nation's colleges of dentistry is learning to be a professional. While knowledge, perceptual-motor skills, and problem-solving abilities are basic to becoming a dentist, helping aspiring colleagues to apply their newly developing skills with integrity must be a fundamental concern. Increasingly, we are realizing that the quality of health care depends as significantly on the character of the health professional as it does on the individual's knowledge and skills. Concern for character, virtue, and integrity is the domain of ethics. This paper advances a justification for including a curriculum in professional ethics in our dental educational programs. The professional ethics curriculum at the University of Kentucky, "The Profession of Dentistry," extends through all four years of the Doctor of Dental Medicine program. The paper describes the major goals pursued in the curriculum and outlines the content of each of the four, sixteen-clock-hour courses. Learning ethics experientially through living in a college community is reviewed in the context of the College of Dentistry's comprehensive Code of Professional Conduct and Academic Responsibility. An assumption of the curriculum is, if the professional relationship of dentistry with society is to be sustained, each new generation of dentists must understand the nature of the profession and the ethical obligations of becoming a member of the dental profession.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1989

Distraction: its utilization and efficacy with children undergoing dental treatment.

We investigated the utilization and efficacy of distraction in reducing the anxious and disruptive behavior of 4 children undergoing dental treatment. During the distraction procedure, the children were shown a poster and told a story about it during dental treatment. They earned a prize if they attended to the poster and story and could correctly answer questions about them following each intervention visit. The children's disruptive behavior was assessed via direct observation, and results were analyzed within a multiple baseline design. The children exhibited high levels of anxious and disruptive behavior across baseline visits, regardless of the length of time in treatment or number of visits. Anxious and disruptive behavior decreased upon introduction of the intervention for all children. This was accompanied by the children meeting the criterion for correct answers on the distraction quiz. However, 2 of the children demonstrated an increase in their anxious and disruptive behavior across intervention visits. Results are discussed in terms of the need to evaluate treatment strategies that promote maintenance as well as initial changes.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1988

Professional ethics and esthetic dentistry.

Esthetic dentistry has assumed an integral position in the provision of oral health care for society. Esthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with beauty. Beauty is both enjoyable (subjective and cosmetic), and admirable (objective and definable). Ethics is a branch of philosophy dealing with morality. Morality relates humans to one another in a responsible way using rationality. Dentists assume unique moral duties in presenting themselves to society as being uniquely qualified to care for their oral health. Three principles of ethics relate directly to professional duties in esthetic dentistry: beneficence, autonomy, and justice. These principles have moral force in committing dentists to gain informed consent and to execute therapy in keeping with professional standards of care. Practical application of issues deriving from esthetics and ethics suggests that dentists must be sensitive to esthetics in their diagnosis and treatment planning and that a structured, formal consultation with a patient must be conducted to educate the patient regarding the goals of treatment, alternative therapies, prognosis, and costs. Only through such an effort can dentists gain informed consent. The goal of esthetic dentistry is the achievement of admirable (objective) and enjoyable (subjective) beauty, which is possible only through patient participation in decision making and excellence in technical performance.

Esthetics, Dental↗