Dental General Practice Research Articles

COVID-19 in dental practice – An overview of challenges and preventive measures

COVID-19 was identified to be caused by a new coronavirus named as SARS-CoV-2. Since the outbreak of this disease, World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global public health emergency. SARS-CoV-2 has a high estimate rate of human-to-human transmission mainly through inhalation/ingestion/direct mucous contact with respiratory droplets. Considering this high transmission capacity, several countries have already registered cases of infection by health professionals. Even though dentists are not directly involved in the diagnosis and therapy of COVID-19 they represent undoubtedly a risk group due to high exposure and their work environment is a contagion factor for patients and staff. In this manner, the objective of this article is to approach important aspects of COVID-19 concerning dental care and provides an overview of its challenges on dental practice. For this, we used these following keywords in our research: COVID-19; dental general practice; prevention and control; infectious disease transmission; infectious disease transmission, patient to professional. Taking into account the global concern with patient care in midst of this pandemic, we address valid concerns regarding the potential means of contamination in the dental office and highlight practices and guidelines adopted in different countries to minimize risks in dental care in this global public health crisis, thus, reinforcing the challenges of dentistry in this context, highlighting the importance of rigorous preventive measures. However, there is still a lack of standardization of dental care protocols and consequently, reduce the risk of contagion.

The Central Massachusetts Oral Health Initiative (CMOHI): a successful public-private community health collaboration

The Central Massachusetts Oral Health Initiative (CMOHI) aimed to improve access to quality oral health care in central Massachusetts. A broad-based public and private organization partnership with local and national funding created a steering committee to organize school administrators, community leaders, and a medical school to collaborate on five goals: advocate for changes in oral health policy, increase oral health care access, provide school-based dental services for underserved children, establish a Dental General Practice Residency, and educate medical professionals about oral health. A state legislative Oral Health Caucus helped secure sought-after policy improvements; more regional dentists now accept Medicaid; community health center capacity to provide dental services was expanded; school-based programs were designed and delivered needed dental services; a dental residency was created; and methods of educating medical professionals were established. Significant sustainable gains in oral health care access were created through our multifaceted approach, ongoing evaluation and communication, coordination of CMOHI partner resources, and collaboration with other involved parties.

The Current Status of the Anatomical Sciences Curriculum in U.S. and Canadian Dental Schools

The anatomical sciences form one of the major building blocks of the basic medical sciences in the professional training of dentists. This paper defines the courses and classifies the formats of teaching for each course within the anatomical sciences curriculum. Information was gathered from the Internet, specifically the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) website links to U.S. and Canadian dental schools and their online catalogues or bulletins as well as online course syllabi. The results demonstrate the distribution of schools in the United States and Canada teaching anatomical sciences in the following categories: stand-alone, sequential, and multifaceted courses for gross anatomy; stand-alone and integrated courses for histology; stand-alone, integrated, incorporated, and no course for neuroanatomy; and stand-alone, incorporated, and no course in embryology. This paper concludes with the proposition that a survey of the usage of anatomical knowledge in use in a typical dental general practice needs to be conducted. The results of such a survey need to be evaluated with the intention of determining what should be taught in a dental clinical anatomical sciences curriculum.

A seminar/case-based approach to teaching removable partial dentures to predoctoral students.

This article describes a seminar/case-based, instructional model designed to simulate removable partial denture (RPD) problem-solving and decision-making processes encountered in third-year clinic in dental school and in dental general practice. Groups of approximately 20 second-year students (in the 3-year program) meet in a series of six 1-hour seminars during the first days of the course. Following the seminars, students complete an exercise on mouth preparation and multiple clasp and major connector designs on prototype casts. This is followed by survey-design exercises on casts of dentitions representing six variations of RPD requirements. Instructors assist students during the practice phase of each class. Each 2-hour practice session is followed by a 1-hour practical examination. The last day of the course is devoted to a comprehensive final practical examination on both maxillary and mandibular casts, incorporating any of the design features previously studied.

A case‐based learning model in orthodontics

This report describes a case-based, student-centered instructional model designed to mimic orthodontic problem-solving and decision-making in dental general practice. Groups of about ten junior students meet in a series of one-hour seminars. One week prior to each seminar, a set of diagnostic data is distributed to every student and instructor for advance preparation. A list of questions is included to guide students through the analytical process and they record their diagnosis and treatment plan on a form. At each seminar two preassigned students lead the discussion, and others are randomly selected to answer the programmed questions. Instructors serve as facilitators and evaluators. To ensure consistency of evaluations and feedback, instructors are provided all the expected responses in advance, which they discuss in a pre-seminar meeting. Both students and instructors rated the seminars positively. Students reported significantly higher (p < 0.01) levels of confidence after the seminars for each of seven reasoning skills. This teaching method can be applied to other dental areas to better develop the clinical reasoning skills of future dentists.

Clinical productivity indicators for a dental general practice residency program

Management of clinical productivity is an essential activity in the dental general practice residency GPR program. Because productivity is a relative term, indicators of clinical productivity must be developed to evaluate current performance. This article presents a 3-year study of clinical productivity in a two-resident GPR program. Productivity indicators are developed and analyzed for this program and for application to other GPR programs.

Do dental general practice residency programs train competent generalists?

Special Care in DentistryVolume 4, Issue 3 p. 105-107 Do dental general practice residency programs train competent generalists? GEORGE A. KENTROS DMD, Corresponding Author GEORGE A. KENTROS DMD Professor of dentistry and program director, general practice residency, the University of Alabama, School of Dentistry, 1919 Seventh Ave S, Birmingham, 35294Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Kentros.Search for more papers by this author GEORGE A. KENTROS DMD, Corresponding Author GEORGE A. KENTROS DMD Professor of dentistry and program director, general practice residency, the University of Alabama, School of Dentistry, 1919 Seventh Ave S, Birmingham, 35294Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Kentros.Search for more papers by this author First published: May 1984 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-4505.1984.tb00166.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume4, Issue3May 1984Pages 105-107 RelatedInformation

Dental general practice residency programs: financing and operations

Journal of Dental EducationVolume 47, Issue 6 p. 388-397 Article Dental general practice residency programs: financing and operations PW Hanson, PW HansonSearch for more papers by this author PW Hanson, PW HansonSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 June 1983 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.0022-0337.1983.47.6.tb01694.xCitations: 3About ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume47, Issue6June 1983Pages 388-397 RelatedInformation

Interdisciplinary training: Hospital dental general practice/emergency medicine

The interaction between the residency training program in hospital dental general practice and emergency medicine at The Medical College of Pennsylvania is discussed. The contribution by the emergency medicine resident to the training of the dental resident and the role of the dental resident in the education of the emergency medicine resident are described in detail. Methods for enhancing this unique relationship between two departments are presented.