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Biomedical subjects

N Thorogood

Publications and source records attributed to N Thorogood.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Admission as a dental student to the former UMDS and its relationship to socio-demographic characteristics.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the socio-demographic characteristics of successful and unsuccessful applicants to one UK dental school over a period of five years. To compare the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful candidates. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of admissions data for the former United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' (UMDS) dental school provided by Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) for a five year period (1994-1998). PARTICIPANTS: Applicants to the former UMDS dental school between 1994 and 1998. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Success of candidates at four stages of the application process: initial application; offer made by the dental school; offer accepted or declined by the candidate; candidate accepted by the school (post A level results). Comparisons were made of the success rates among candidates grouped according to socio-demographic characteristics at each transition between these stages. A level performance was not included in the analysis, which must limit the findings, and may explain some of the variation found in the study. RESULTS: The effect of socio-demographic characteristics on the admissions process was small though significant. Approximately 9% of initial applicants reached the final stage and were accepted into the dental school. The most marked effect was a bias towards female entrants (11.5% of women applicants were accepted, compared with 7% of men). Only 5% of applicants from all the Black minority groups were successful. In comparison 17% of applicants of Chinese origin were successful. The proportion of accepted applicants from London and the South East (12%) was greater than from other areas (9%). CONCLUSIONS: Any conclusions must be tempered by the limitations of the study: the retrospective nature of the study together with the lack of information on A level results. Given these caveats, this study has demonstrated that the success of applicants to one former dental school was related to their socio-demographic characteristics. A prospective study including a number of dental schools in the UK which records both predicted and achieved A level grades would provide more definitive information on the impact of socio-demographic factors on admission to dental school.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Barriers to the use of dental services by individuals from minority ethnic communities living in the United Kingdom: findings from focus groups.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the barriers identified by individuals from minority ethnic communities resident in the United Kingdom to their use of dental services. METHOD: Focus group discussions were held with individuals from minority ethnic groups. Data were analysed using the technique of content analysis on the basis of categories defined by the researchers. FINDINGS: Barriers to regular attendance identified by participants included: language, a mistrust of dentists, cost, anxiety, cultural misunderstandings, concern about standards of hygiene. The type of barrier identified differed between ethnic groups, though mistrust of dentists was common to all groups. CONCLUSIONS: The findings confirm previous research identifying barriers to the use of dental services. However, for the first time in the United Kingdom, it has been suggested that the nature of the perceived barriers varies across ethnic groups. These findings have implications for attempts to increase use of dental services among individuals from minority ethnic communities.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2000

A study of the career development of male and female dental practitioners.

AIM: The aim of the study was to determine differences between male and female dental practitioners in the positions they occupy within their employment, and to analyse the correlates of such differences. METHOD: Postal questionnaire survey of a 1 in 10 sample of individuals taken from the General Dental Council register. RESULTS: Female dental practitioners occupy lower positions in the employment hierarchies of the Community Dental Service and the Hospital Dental Service. Women general dental practitioners are significantly less likely to be sole proprietor of, or a partner in, a general practice. Ownership of a general practice is related to: sex, age, number of years qualified, number of children, and hours worked. Consultants in the Hospital Dental Service are more likely to be male, older, to have been qualified longer and (obviously) to hold more additional qualifications than their non-consultant colleagues. Senior Dental Officers and Directors of the Community Dental Service are more likely to be male, work longer hours and (again obviously) to hold more additional qualifications than Community Dental Officers. CONCLUSIONS: Differences exist between male and female dental practitioners in the positions they occupy within employment hierarchies. Age, length of time since qualification and the acquisition of additional qualifications are consistently found to differentiate dental practitioners' status.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

The work patterns of male and female dental practitioners in the United Kingdom.

AIM: The aim of the study was to determine differences between male and female dental practitioners in the type of dentistry they practice, and their working practice, and to compare these data to previously published studies of the working practices of female dentists in the United Kingdom. DESIGN: A postal questionnaire survey. PARTICIPANTS: A 1 in 10 sample of individuals taken from the UK Dentists Register. RESULTS: The data revealed that women dentists are more likely than male dentists to work in the Community Dental Service. Within general dental practice women are more likely to work part-time, to carry out National Health Service treatment and to specialize in orthodontics or paediatric dentistry. More women than men take career breaks, and the reasons for taking career breaks differ between male and females. Women take longer career breaks on average. However, differences between male and female practitioners in the total duration of their career breaks are largely accounted for by child rearing. Finally, male dental practitioners are more likely than female dental practitioners to report reading professional journals. The findings are analysed in the light of previous surveys of the working practices of female dental practitioners both within the United Kingdom and internationally. CONCLUSION: The main finding reported here is that there are no differences between men and women in the number and length of career breaks taken, if childcare is excluded.

Dentists↗
PubMed2000

Dental caries and treatment experience of adults from minority ethnic communities living in the South Thames Region, UK.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the dental caries and treatment experience of groups of adults from minority ethnic communities living in the South Thames Region of England. DESIGN: Cross-sectional clinical study. SETTINGS: Community, religious and educational centres for adults from minority ethnic communities. PARTICIPANTS: Snowball sample of 928 adults from 44 ethnic groups including: Black Caribbean (141), Black African (134); Pakistani (123); Indian (190); Bangladeshi (78); Chinese/Vietnamese (143) and 119 from other groups. RESULTS: More participants were dentate or had 18 or more sound and untreated teeth than adults living in the same area (Todd and Lader, 1991). Duration of residence in the United Kingdom predicted caries or treatment experience in the sample as a whole and in Chinese/Vietnamese people. Increased DMFT was predicted by age and by history of visiting a UK dentist in the sample as a whole and in the Black African group. CONCLUSIONS: Effect of duration of UK residence on presence and extent of caries suggests that oral health may be better among adults from these ethnic minority groups than among the general population. However, the differences can also be attributed to sampling bias and old comparison data. Better sampling strategies are required for research of this type.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Paradigm busters.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1997

Questioning science: how knowledge is socially constructed.

This paper argues that 'science' does not tell us 'the truth' but is simply one explanatory framework (of potentially many explanations) for understanding the world. Scientific fact is not a given, located somewhere 'out there' waiting to be discovered. Rather as a set of ideas, which offer to explain the world, scientific knowledge is produced by people and does not exist separately from them. 'Science' cannot pre-exist the social world in which it is produced. It follows that 'scientific research' is equally a product of social forces and cannot be epistemologically separate and 'objective' either. However, the concept of 'scientific research' as 'objective' is so taken for granted in the discipline of dentistry (and elsewhere) that those involved barely see it as a process at all. This paper seeks to make apparent these processes and the values implicit in them.

Humans↗
PubMed1995

'London dentist in HIV scare': HIV and dentistry in popular discourse.

This is a qualitative analysis of the non-structured responses to a survey (see 'Notes') which elicited people's attitudes towards being treated by HIV-positive dentists. These findings are discussed in terms of a sociology of knowledge, that is, an understanding of how individuals come to believe what they do. It uses the concept of 'public' and 'private' accounts to explore some of the themes which emerged.

Dentist-Patient Relations↗
PubMed1992

Public perceptions of the funding of NHS dental services.

A survey was carried out of 102 members of the general public, asking for their views of the recent changes in the government funding of NHS dentistry. Approximately 80% of those surveyed had heard about the changes. The majority thought that the implications of the change would be a rise in costs to patients and a fall in the number of NHS dentists.

Adolescent↗