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This article reviews the rules, regulations, and procedures which enable dental assistants to become radiology certified in Indiana. Dental assistants must participate in an American Dental Association (ADA)-accredited program or an Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH, formerly the Indiana State Board of Health)-approved on-the-job training program to qualify for the radiology certification examination.
This article addresses the dental faculty shortage as reported by the American Dental Association in its publication The Future of Dentistry and the Journal of Dental Education report on the demand nationally for dental school faculty. Budgeted full-time faculty vacancies in U.S. dental schools stand between 300 and 400 with present and anticipated state and federal shortfalls forecasting even further cuts or at least lack of government support. Acknowledging various reasons for, and responses to, the shortage, the School of Dentistry at Loma Linda University is seeking to deal creatively with a faculty shortage. A survey of newly hired full-time faculty indicates the issues that concern them and their colleagues. Loma Linda University School of Dentistry's response to the shortage includes a routine invitation to students, particularly seniors and residents, to consider teaching at the school. In addition, a simple alumni recruitment form is used for personal relationship building with alumni. A student loan reimbursement program for new faculty is a successful program in recruiting new, young full-time faculty. To provide for the long-term future of the research function of the school, a new program focusing on hiring doctoral (PhD)-prepared individuals who will be trained in the predoctoral DDS program at the expense of the school is in place. This article suggests further steps that can be taken to enhance the cause and reputation of the school's educational program.
One of the greatest figures in the development of the dental profession to the high status it enjoys today is all but forgotten. Jonathan Taft was dean of the second dental school in the world and wrote the most important clinical textbook of his time, one that was reprinted in many editions over a quarter of a century. Later appointed dean of the new University of Michigan Dental School, he instituted innovations in admission requirements and course of study that were copied by all subsequent schools and are the standards adhered to today. The editor of one of the most important dental journals for 44 years, a record unmatched to this day, he set the standards for modern dental periodical literature that have done so much to elevate dentistry that today it stands on a par with medicine as a truly science-based profession. He served dentistry in many capacities: president of the American Dental Association, founder of the National Association of Dental Faculties, and founder of the National Association of Dental Examiners. Over his lifetime, he published almost 200 professional papers and probably attended and lectured at more dental meetings than anyone of his day and since. His memory should be resurrected, and the profession must be made aware of the great debt it owes to this intrepid fighter for a better dental profession.
PURPOSE: Dentinal hypersensitivity is a common complaint among dental patients. Recently, a novel 0.454% stabilized stannous fluoride dentifrice containing sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) was introduced that offers a desensitizing benefit. This trial was conducted to assess the desensitizing efficacy of this new dentifrice relative to a sodium fluoride control dentifrice. METHODS AND MATERIAL: This was a double-blind, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial conducted according to the American Dental Association (ADA) Guidelines for the Acceptance of Products for the Treatment of Dentinal Hypersensitivity. Ninety subjects who met the entrance criteria were stratified based on age, gender, and baseline sensitivity scores and randomly assigned to either the stabilized stannous fluoride + SHMP dentifrice (Crest Pro-Health) or the sodium fluoride control dentifrice. Subjects were instructed to brush twice daily for eight weeks. Efficacy assessments were made, including tactile (Yeaple probe) and thermal (Schiff Air Index) sensitivity, and an oral soft tissue examination was conducted at baseline, week four, and week eight. RESULTS: The mean sensitivity score based on the Schiff Air Index for the stannous fluoride + SHMP group was statistically significantly lower than that of the control group, at both weeks four and eight (P < .0001). At week eight, the stannous fluoride + SHMP dentifrice group had an adjusted mean 44% lower than that of the control group. The mean tactile sensitivity score for the stannous fluoride + SHMP group was statistically significantly higher, indicating a reduction in sensitivity, than that of the control group, at both weeks four and eight (P < .0001). At week eight, the stannous fluoride + SHMP dentifrice group had a mean desensitizing improvement of 71% greater than the control. CONCLUSION: The stabilized stannous fluoride + SHMP dentifrice provided statistically significant reductions in dentinal hypersensitivity at four and eight weeks compared to the sodium fluoride control dentifrice.
The Department is publishing this final rule to implement sections 711 and 715 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (NDAA for FY05), Public Law 108-375. Specifically, that legislation makes young dependents of deceased Service members eligible for enrollment in the TRICARE Dental program when the child was not previously enrolled because of age, and authorizes post-graduate dental residents in a dental treatment facility of the uniformed services under a graduate dental education program accredited by the American Dental Association to provide dental treatment to dependents who are 12 years of age or younger and who are covered by a dental plan established under 10 U.S.C. 1076a. This adopts the interim rule published on September 21, 2005 (70 FR 55251).
We examined number, size, design, and scientific approach of advertisements published in three dental journals between 1970 and 2004. For this purpose, the Schweizer Monatsschrift für Zahnmedizin (SMfZ), Zahnärztliche Mitteilungen (ZM; Ger many), and The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) were chosen. The January and July issues of each of the 35 volumes were analyzed. Of 28,711 pages, 7265.5 were identified as advertisements (JADA: 29.9%, SMfZ: 24.8%, ZM: 13.7%). While whole-page ads dominated in JADA (87.2%) and SMfZ (68.9%), ad-sizes were more balanced in ZM. During the observation period, the use of photographs increased, while that of drawings decreased. Images of products dominated as compared to pictures of the orofacial region. Citations from study results (SMfZ 3.3%: ZM 2.5%; JADA 5.5%) and diagrams/tables (SMfZ: 3.2%; ZM: 1.0%; JADA: 4.5%) were rarely used, and an appreciable number of cited references could not be identified (SMfZ: 16%, ZM: 18%). More than 80% of the identifiable cited references corroborated the claim made in the advertisement. However, a critical attitude towards ads in dental journals appears justified.
Stannous fluoride (0.4%) has been incorporated into oral hygiene products to reduce dentinal hypersensitivity since the 1960s. The present study was designed to assess the desensitizing efficacy of a stabilized 0.454% stannous fluoride/sodium hexametaphosphate dentifrice compared to a sodium fluoride control dentifrice. This was a double-blind, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial conducted according to the American Dental Association Guidelines for the Acceptance of Products for the Treatment of Dentinal Hypersensitivity. Seventy-seven subjects who met the entrance criteria were stratified based on age, gender, and air-sensitivity scores and randomly assigned to either the stabilized stannous fluoride/sodium hexametaphosphate dentifrice or the sodium fluoride control dentifrice. Subjects were instructed to brush twice daily for 8 weeks. Oral soft tissue examination and efficacy assessments including tactile (Yeaple probe) and thermal (Schiff Air Index) sensitivity were made at baseline, week 4, and week 8. The mean sensitivity score based on the Schiff Air Index for the experimental group was statistically significantly lower than that of the sodium fluoride control group, at both weeks 4 and 8 (P < .0001). The mean sensitivity score based on the Yeaple Probe Index for the stannous fluoride/sodium hexametaphosphate group was statistically significantly higher, indicating a reduction in sensitivity, than that of the sodium fluoride control group, at both weeks 4 and 8 (P < .0001). The results demonstrate that the stabilized stannous fluoride/sodium hexametaphosphate dentifrice provides clinically and statistically significant reductions in dentinal hypersensitivity when compared to the sodium fluoride control dentifrice.
AIM: Dental-medical devices may transmit infections caused by bacteria that are usually found in water distribution systems, and which are difficult to treat and control. High bacterial contamination in the water systems of dental units is due to the presence of biofilm inside the pipes. Our study evaluated the efficacy of glutaraldehyde formulated with quarternary ammonium salts (Sanicide T4) examined in a previous study, employing a series of assays to confirm or otherwise the results obtained previously. METHODS: A purification protocol for the dental unit water system, together with a protocol for daily maintenance treatment, were tested on two dental units (in the Departments of Conservative and Prosthetic Dentistry) taking specimens from the turbine, micro-engine and air-water gun. The chemical substance, at a concentration of 20 cc per litre of water, was allowed to act when the department closed, for a total of 15 days. The Sanicide T4 was handled with protective gloves and the dental units were fitted with two safety devices to avoid accidental ingestion. RESULTS: Laboratory results enabled us to compare values for bacterial load at 36 degrees C and at 22 degrees C and for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, before and after applying the test protocol. Data obtained are satisfactory except for Pseudo-monas in the fountain in the Department of Conservative Dentistry; the value was in any case below the safety level set by the American Dental Association, confirming the results obtained in our previous study. CONCLUSIONS: The two protocols may now be considered an excellent solution to control the development of biofilm. Should the product be found to be effective for a longer period of use, each dental unit should be provided with: an anti-reflux valve to stop accidental ingestion of disinfectant; a hydraulic mechanism to pump the product to the handpieces and other water supply devices; possibility of discriminating the use of the public water system from the use of that in the disinfectant circuit; an automatic mechanism whereby the disinfectant can be flushed out with drinking water every morning.
The impact our ethics curricula have on students seems marginal at best. Students take the ethics courses we offer and pass the tests we give, but no one's behavior changes as a result. We fundamentally see ourselves teaching about ethics, which is slightly different than teaching ethics--and expecting behavior to change as a result of what is taught. The premise of this article is that our ethics courses are inadequate in content and form to the extent that they do not cultivate an introspective orientation to professional life. In some cases, they amount to little more than a study of various state dental practice acts or the Code of Ethics of the American Dental Association. Three specific weaknesses are identified in a typical ethics curriculum: 1) failure to recognize that more education is not the answer to everything; 2) ethics is boring; and 3) course content is qualitatively inadequate because it does not foster an introspective basis for true behavioral change. A fourth element, an innovation, is directed to this third weakness and entails implementing a precurriculum very early in the dental educational experience to address the disconnect between knowledge and action.
This article reviews the history and future good of acceptance ethics and helps frame the publication of papers presented at the workshop on Professional Promises: Hopes and Gaps in Access to Oral Health Care. Discovery and development of Universal Patient Acceptance (UPA), a practical application of acceptance ethics, is key to systematizing access to oral health; UPA expands partnerships among professional volunteerism, culture, and economic structures. A Veterans' Administration health services preventive dentistry research project and a West Virginia school children's preventive dental program raised awareness of acceptance. A state insurance crisis revealed an underlying systems ethics problem that was not purely legal, political, educational, economic, or scientific in nature. Key players were identified for dialogue, and questions were ranked. UPA was articulated and proposed as a unique, practical, and positive professional promise. The experience involved PEDNET, a dental ethics education group. An intensive applied dental ethics course for practicing dentists was developed; it attracted the American College of Dentists (ACD) and American Dental Association (ADA). Annual ACD LeaderSkills helped expand continuing education of ethics; several dental ethics summits were initiated. Concepts like discourse, adequate care, and viewing organizations as both persons and machines motivated further exploration of acceptance. Separating acceptance from diagnosis, treatment, and payment improves discourse on the various philosophical notions and practical applications that dominate each area.
As concern for the oral health of vulnerable populations grows, dentistry continues to seek effective ways to respond. In August 2005, Dr. Donald Patthoff and Dr. Frank Catalanotto convened a national workshop at the American Dental Association headquarters on the ethics of access to oral health care. A series of papers were produced for the workshop and subsequently revised for publication. This one responds to the paper by Dr. David Chambers on moral communities and the discursive imperative for building community and consensus around issues affecting equitable access to oral health care. I explore three interrelated issues that ought to be considered when endeavoring to build moral communities: 1) the problem of power relations-a fundamental constituent within discourse that can impede constructive efforts; 2) the discursive disconnect between theoretical ethics and social constructs affecting dentistry; and 3) the bioethical principle of nonmaleficence as a priority in the desire for building moral communities. In essence, this article responds also to the call from ethicists who see a significant need for substantive interdisciplinary contributions to inform how people at different social levels react in ethically problematic situations in its broad social context.
To assess the quality and quantity of sedation education in U.S. dental schools, a prospective, questionnaire-based survey was administered to general dental practitioners who graduated in 2003. Questionnaires were sent via facsimile to recent dental graduates using a list obtained through the American Dental Association. The response rate was 54 percent; 718 of the 1,328 nine-question surveys were returned. The response to the questionnaires indicates a perceived need for sedation care by the majority of recent graduates and low overall satisfaction with the quality of sedation education in U.S. dental schools. The general consensus of most 2003 dental school graduates is that they have gained little or no hands-on experience in sedation techniques and would have supported an increase in tuition and fees if an institution were to offer more efficient sedation training. With increased popularity and high patient demand for sedation techniques, the new dentist feels a need for sedation education before graduation.
Currently, dental school graduates are viewed as a resource by their institutions and those who underwrite their educational costs. The purpose of this study was to determine the percentage of dental school graduates who practiced dentistry in the same state as their dental school. Using the American Dental Association database of approximately 35,000 graduates between 1985 and 1995, the data were analyzed to determine the percentage of graduates who were retained and currently reside in the state of their dental school versus those located outside of that state ("exported"). It was also possible to calculate the number of dentists who moved into each state but were educated elsewhere ("imported"). The ratio of imported to exported graduates was calculated and indicated a positive flow into the state when greater than one and an outflow when less than one. Overall, mean graduate retention was 67.3 percent, 65.4 percent, and 44.3 percent for public, public state-related, and private schools, respectively, while the median graduate retention of 71.1 percent and 71.6 percent for public and public state-related schools made them indistinguishable. The mean import-export ratio for public school graduates was 2.9, indicating that on average nearly three dentists were imported to a state for every public dental school graduate exported. States' total import-export ratio for all types of graduates was 2.2, indicating that on average a little over two dentists were imported to every one exported by a state with a dental school of any kind. The medians for all these ratios were much more modest (0.95 and 0.80 for public dental schools and states with dental schools), indicating that they sent more students out of the state than they imported. Six public dental schools exported greater than 50 percent of their dental graduates, while five public schools retained more than 85 percent of their graduates. Only one private state-related school retained less than 50 percent of its students. In view of these results, it is apparent there is great variability in graduate retention, and the total yield of new dentists for each state is determined by both the retention rate for graduates and its import-export ratio. Most public and public state-related schools do a good job of retaining graduates. When they do send graduates out of state, the median shows they do not gain quite enough to offset those exported. In most instances, this becomes highly problematic only when a low retention rate is paired with a low import-export ratio. Each state must consider its unique situation carefully and consider its yield, the types of problems that face the state in terms of dental workforce, and possible solutions.
The available and proposed methods for determining the in vivo occlusal wear values of classes 1 and 2 restorations made of resinfilled composite materials are critically reviewed. A methodology to be used to address the fundamental question of the link between the wear of the in vivo restorations and the relevant mechanical properties of the materials is outlined. For the four commercial formulations of composite materials which are currently "fully acceptable" to the American Dental Association (Estilux Posterior, Ful-Fil, Occlusin, and P-10), analysis of the published clinical wear values versus time data is performed.
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Survey results on the subject of child abuse from the American Society of Dentistry for Children membership are reported. The survey results reflected the need of a documentation protocol for the dental office. A protocol is proposed which reviews the need of thorough assessment of orofacial lesions before concluding that child abuse exists. A data- and diagnostic-assessment form has been made using guidelines of the American Dental Association and other related referenced articles. The diagnostic-assessment form is presented to guide the practitioner through the documentation process and to develop a step-by-step decision on the probability of child abuse in any individual case.
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