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Biomedical subjects

L W Ripa

Publications and source records attributed to L W Ripa.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Sealants: training and educational needs for dental students and dental auxiliary students.

A program of instruction in pit and fissure sealants has been described that includes didactic, preclinical, and clinical components (Table 4). The entire program requires the equivalent of three curriculum days. However, reinforcement of the principles of the technic should continue during the students' entire clinical training period. There are 203 accredited dental hygiene programs and 285 accredited dental assistant programs in the United States. Enrollment in these programs during the 1982-83 academic year was 10,051 hygiene students and 7,977 assisting students. Since 29 states currently allow dental hygienists to apply sealants and 11 states allow dental assistants, there is a compelling reason for sealants to be included in the curriculum of dental auxiliary programs. Unfortunately, other than Dr. Terkla's brief survey, there is no reliable information on the number of auxiliary programs that teach sealants, nor are there curriculum guidelines on sealant instruction for these programs. Nevertheless, the same training outlined in this article for dental students applies equally for dental hygiene and assisting students. A controversial question is whether clinical training in sealant application should be part of the curriculum of dental auxiliary programs in states that only allow dentists to apply them. This is not a question that can be resolved in this article, but must be considered at the individual schools involved. In these situations, a careful balance must be achieved between the academic freedom to teach current practices in dentistry and the dental practice acts of the state. The first commercially available pit and fissure sealant was marketed in 1970.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Curriculum↗
PubMed1983

Supervised weekly rinsing with a 0.2% neutral NaF solution: results after 5 years.

The effect on caries prevalence of the permanent dentition was evaluated after 5 years of weekly rinsing (130 scheduled rinses) with a 0.2% neutral NaF solution. The program was conducted in the Three Village Central School District, New York, U.S.A. (F less than or equal to 0.1 part/10(6). First to sixth grade children who rinsed from 1 to 5 years respectively had a caries prevalence reduction of 45.3% (DMFT) and 47.4% (DMFS) compared to baseline scores of children who were examined before the rinsing program began. The highest caries reduction, 81.3%, was found on proximal surfaces. Two variables influenced the cariostatic benefits associated with fluoride rinsing. The younger that children entered the program and the longer that they rinsed, the greater were the accumulated benefits.

Child↗
PubMed1983

Teaching occlusal sealant therapy to dental students Department of Children's Dentistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook.

The use of sealants has been taught from its inception by the Department of Children's Dentistry at Stony Brook. The average student, during his two years of clinical experience, applies approximately 50 sealants. Estimating that each sealant takes about 20 minutes to apply (probably a realistic figure considering preparation time, and the fact that the students are inexperienced and usually working without assistants), about 17 hours, or six percent of a student's clinic time in Children's Dentistry, is spent placing sealants. In addition the students have reading assignments and four contact hours of lectures and a clinical class exercise in sealant therapy. We have found that the six and 12-month retention of sealants by our dental students is comparable to that reported by others in which the sealant was applied by dentists or specially trained auxiliaries. This is due, in part, to a policy of having faculty deliberately try to pry off the sealant before the patient is dismissed. (This procedure, we feel, should also be done by the practicing dentist). Our studies have also found that dental students have more success when they use an autopolymerized system and when rubber dam isolation is used while working with a UV-polymerized system. Despite our didactic and clinical class exercise program, our students still commit common errors in sealant placement that requires the vigilance of our faculty to both detect and correct. Although the number of individuals contacted was small, it was gratifying to find that all of our graduates, who were able to, used sealants in their practices.

Child↗
PubMed1983

Supervised weekly rinsing with a 0.2 percent neutral NaF solution: final results of a demonstration program after six school years.

The results of a school-based fluoride mouthrinsing program in the elementary schools of a Long Island, New York community (F less than or equal to 0.1 ppm) was described. Children enrolled in this continuing program rinse once a week for 60 seconds with a 0.2 percent neutral NaF solution. Kindergarteners rinse with 5.0 ml.; children in the first through sixth grade rinse with 10 ml. Program personnel mix and distribute the rinse to the classrooms. Rinsing is supervised by homeroom teachers. A random sample of 125 children from each grade level (approximately 750 children) annually receive visual-tactile caries examinations from the same examiner. Mean caries prevalence scores after participation in the rinsing program are compared to the caries prevalence of children that were examined in 1975, before the program began. There has been 170 scheduled rinse sessions during six years. By the sixth-year examinations, first graders rinsed for one year (as kindergarteners), second graders for two years, etc. All children who were examined began participation in the program as kindergarteners. The findings after six years of the rinsing program included: 1. There was a 54.1 percent reduction in the mean DMFT caries prevalence score and a 55.2 percent reduction in the mean DMFS score. 2. The greatest percentage caries reduction, 68.8 percent, occurred for proximal surfaces, and the greatest absolute reduction occurred for occlusal surfaces. 3. The percentage of children with a caries-free permanent dentition increased from 43.5 percent to 66.3 percent. Of those children with caries, more were in the low caries category (DMFS = 1-4) compared to children who were examined before the rinsing program began.

Child↗
PubMed1983

Occlusal sealants: an overview of clinical studies.

Sealant application is a technic in which a rapid transfer of technology occurred from the research community, abetted by industry, to individual practitioners and public health personnel. Less than five years after publication of the results of the first clinical trial, sealant systems were commercially available. Since the first published report of the effectiveness of sealants in inhibiting occlusal caries, many other investigators have substantiated the dramatic caries-inhibiting potential and degree of retention that can be obtained with sealants. Despite the high degree of success and the universality of positive reports, there is a significant lag in the utilization of sealants both by dental practitioners and public health programs. One reason appears to be the perception that sealants are not cost-effective. This is a concept that the dental research community may have unwittingly fostered by conducting cost analyses on a technic that was still in its initial stages of development. It behooves the dental profession, both the public and private sectors, to accord sealants recognition for their proven effectiveness and retentive characteristics. At the same time, the dental profession should suspend judgment on their costs until reports of studies conducted specifically for this purpose appear.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1982

Posttreatment benefits from participation in a school-based fluoride mouthrinsing program: II. Results after three to five years of rinsing.

The effect on caries prevalence of previous participation in a school-based 0.2 percent neutral NaF mouthrinsing program was assessed in junior-high-school students. The subjects had rinsed for three-to-five years as elementary-school students in the Three Village fluoride mouthrinsing program, Long Island, New York (F less than or equal to 0.1 ppm). The effects of rinsing were determined by comparing the caries prevalence of seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students who had previously participated in the rinsing program to the baseline caries scores of seventh through ninth grade students who were examined before the rinsing program began. The caries prevalence of the children who had participated in the rinsing program was 29.3 percent (DMFT) and 32.7 percent (DMFS) less than that of the children who had never rinsed. Preferential protection was afforded to the proximal surfaces which had a caries reduction of 56.1 percent compared to 28 percent for both the occlusal and buccolingual surfaces. The duration of the children's participation in the mouthrinsing program generally was related to the level of posttreatment benefits, although age upon entry into the program may also exert an influence. It is fortuitous that there is a persistence of mouthrinsing benefits since older children have generally been reluctant to give their full cooperation in a school-based fluoride mouthrinsing program.

Adolescent↗