APHA Oral Health Section Supports dental therapists in Minnesota, as reported in the September 2009 issue of The Nation's Health. The Minnesota law "calls for a four-year baccalaureate program to train dental therapists and establishes a two-year master’s program for advanced dental therapists, among other requirements and restrictions." As Scott Presson explained, our Section advocates "a two-year training program modeled after a dental therapist program that has been operating successfully in New Zealand for more than 75 years....But it is a big step for one state to take and we hope other states will take a look at it as a way to address the access issue, particularly among the under-served." Click here for the complete article in The Nation's Health.
No Proof for Filling Baby Teeth
"...anecdotal evidence...by Manchester University researchers suggests filling baby teeth may not offer significant benefits....found no difference in the numbers of extractions for pain or infection whether baby teeth had been filled or not....[a] full trial will run for four years across England, Scotland and Wales, with a feasibility study starting in the coming months."
From: BBC News. Click here for the complete article.
Editor's note: This may be hard to swallow, so read the full article before reacting viscerally.
Combatting Tobacco Use in Military and Veteran Populations
"Since the 1960s, tobacco use has declined in the United States, including the military, but rates of smoking remain higher in the military than in the general population. In 2005, 32 percent of active-duty military personnel and 22 percent of all veterans smoked, compared with just over 20 percent of the U.S. adult population. The prevalence of smoking is over 50 percent higher in military personnel who have been deployed than in those who have not, and an increasing number of service members use smokeless tobacco." For Free Executive Summary go to: www.nap.edu/catalog/12632.html
Editor's Note: Another war we're losing.
Another First for Minnesota
The state “eliminates live patient exams for dental licensure, adopting the National Dental Examining Board (NDEB) of Canada's two-part exam, which comprises a written test and a nonpatient-based Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), to its 2010 graduates next spring.” Kathy Kincaid, Editor, DrBicuspid.com. Click here for the complete article.
Paradigm Shift in Britain's NHS dental program
"...dentists in the U.K. may be paid by the number of patients they care for and the quality of that care rather than how many procedures they perform, if recommendations from a new review of the NHS dental system become reality....The end result...could be a paradigm shift in NHS dentistry, away from the current fee-for-service system toward a more long-term, patient-centric approach."
(From DrBicuspid.com) Click here for the complete article.