Background: High prevalence of oral health problems persists across all age groups among Filipinos despite the continued endeavors of the government and professional societies. This position statement aimed to generate consensus policy recommendations to protect and promote oral health in the Philippines as an integral part of the healthcare service in light of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act. Methods: An evidence-based policy brief and presentations of dental and policy experts were used as discussion points in the roundtable discussion conducted by the UP Manila Health Policy Development Hub. Key stakeholders from various sectors were convened to generate inputs for policy actions and amendments to oral health related policies. ools. Results: Thematic analysis of the discussion was organized using the WHO Building Blocks of Health Systems, which yielded practical, accessible, and population-wide interventions (2010). The following issues were highlighted: (a) health service delivery needs strong collaboration of LGUs; (b) insufficient workforce of dental professionals; (c) market availability of sufficiently fluoridated toothpaste per age group; and (d) health financing scheme on oral health services. Conclusion and Recommendations With the shift in the health system landscape brought by the UHC Act, timely and responsive inter-sectoral interventions, focusing on prevention, must be set to attain the target decrease in the prevalence of dental caries. It was also to recommend to (i) engage the academe and training institutions to increase the workforce, (ii) consider adopting international standards on sugar consumption as appropriate, and (iii) ensure sufficient funds for sustainability of oral health programs, particularly school-based caries prevention program starting in pre-schools.
Oral Health ; Public Health Dentistry ; Workforce ; Dentists ; Health Services

Health profession schools use interviews during the admissions process to identify certain non-cognitive skills that are needed for success in diverse, inter-professional settings. This study aimed to assess the use of interviews during the student admissions process across health disciplines at schools in the United States of America in 2014. The type and frequency of non-cognitive skills assessed were also evaluated. Descriptive methods were used to analyze a sample of interview rubrics collected as part of a national survey on admissions in the health professions, which surveyed 228 schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and public health. Of the 228 schools, 130 used interviews. The most desirable non-cognitive skills from 34 schools were identified as follows: communication skills (30), motivation (22), readiness for the profession (17), service (12), and problem-solving (12). Ten schools reported using the multiple mini-interview format, which may indicate potential for expanding this practice. Disparities in the use of interviewing across health professions should be verified to help schools adopt interviews during student admissions processes.
Americas* ; Cognition ; Dentistry ; Health Occupations* ; Humans ; Motivation ; Nursing ; Pharmacy ; Public Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; United States*

This study aimed to evaluate the educational environment of the health sciences programs of KLE University, Belgaum, Karnataka, India, to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and to suggest strategies to improve the educational environment to be on par with global standards. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire, filled out by 914 of the 1,004 students (91.0%) who were majoring in medicine, dentistry, nursing, physiotherapy, and public health. The data were analysed according to the DREEM guidelines. Responses were received from 914 students, of whom 34.03% were men and 65.9% were women. The majority (67.1%) of students were 20-24 years of age. The mean overall DREEM score was 120.21+/-22.4 (maximum, 200) and approached the normal distribution (Lilliefors test, P<0.01). The DREEM scores of each group of students were as follows: dental, 125.0; medical, 122.4; public health, 121.0; physiotherapy, 117.0; and nursing, 116.3. Male students had more positive perceptions than female students (P<0.05), and postgraduate students had more positive perceptions than undergraduate students (P<0.05). The overall DREEM score (120.21) indicates that the educational environment was found to be more positive than negative.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dentistry ; Female ; Humans ; India* ; Internationality ; Male ; Nursing ; Public Health

The future of evidence-based dentistry in developing Africa heavily depends on a sustainable establishment of a vibrant dentist-scientist workforce. A dentist scientist is saddled with the responsibility of carrying out robust cutting edge research projects that are inspired by clinical experience. Currently, there are no pipelines in place to systematically train such dentists, neither are there programs in place to allow trained African dentists choose such a career pathway. A dentist-scientist is a person who studied oral, dental, maxillofacial (or craniofacial) diseases, prevention, and population sciences (obtaining a medical degrees such as bachelor of dental surgery [BDS] or BChD) alone; or in combination with other advanced degrees such as doctor of dental surgery (DDS)/doctor of philosophy (PhD) or BDS/PhD. This situation has resulted in overdependence of African clinical practice on research findings from technologically advanced Western countries and a decline in clinical research capacity building. The career path of a dentist-scientist should involve research along the spectrum of basic biomedical sciences, translational, clinical and public health sciences. There are several factors responsible for the ultra-low count of dentist-scientist in the heterogeneous African communities such as: poor biomedical research infrastructure; lack of funding; absence of structured dentist scientist career pathways; lack of personnel, inter alia. Hence, this review hopes to discuss the opportunities of setting up a dentist-scientist training pathway in Africa (as obtains in most developed world settings), identify opportunities and prospects of developing an African dentist-scientist workforce, and finally discuss the challenges involved.
Africa* ; Capacity Building ; Career Choice ; Dental Research ; Dentistry ; Dentists ; Education, Dental ; Evidence-Based Dentistry ; Financial Management ; Hope ; Humans ; Philosophy ; Public Health

PURPOSE: Zirconia has been used in clinical dentistry for approximately a decade, and there have been several reports regarding the clinical performance and survival rates of zirconia-based restorations. The aim of this article was to review the literatures published from 2000 to 2010 regarding the clinical performance and the causes of failure of zirconia fixed partial dentures (FPDs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: An electronic search of English peer-reviewed dental literatures was performed through PubMed to obtain all the clinical studies focused on the performance of the zirconia FPDs. The electronic search was supplemented by manual searching through the references of the selected articles for possible inclusion of some articles. Randomized controlled clinical trials, longitudinal prospective and retrospective cohort studies were the focuses of this review. Articles that did not focus on the restoration of teeth using zirconia-based restorations were excluded from this review. RESULTS: There have been three studies for the study of zirconia single crowns. The clinical outcome was satisfactory (acceptable) according to the CDA evaluation. There have been 14 studies for the study of zirconia FPDs. The survival rates of zirconia anterior and posterior FPDs ranged between 73.9% - 100% after 2 - 5 years. The causes of failure were veneer fracture, ceramic core fracture, abutment tooth fracture, secondary caries, and restoration dislodgment. CONCLUSION: The overall performance of zirconia FPDs was satisfactory according to either USPHS criteria or CDA evaluations. Fracture resistance of core and veneering ceramics, bonding between core and veneering materials, and marginal discrepancy of zirconia-based restorations were discussed as the causes of failure. Because of its repeated occurrence in many studies, future researches are essentially required to clarify this problem and to reduce the fracture incident.
Ceramics ; Cohort Studies ; Crowns ; Dentistry ; Denture, Partial, Fixed ; Electronics ; Electrons ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Tooth ; Tooth Fractures ; United States Public Health Service ; Zirconium

The restoration of endodontically treated teeth (ETT) with more than one cusp missing and thin remaining walls is challenging for the general practitioner. The use of posts combined with full coverage restorations is a well-established approach, yet not following the minimal invasive principles of adhesive dentistry. Endocrowns are indirect monoblock restorations that use the pulp chamber of the ETT for retention. In this study the fabrication of 4 endocrowns and their clinical performance will be discussed. Two clinical cases include computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing manufactured molar endocrowns (one feldspathic ceramic and one hybrid composite-ceramic restoration) and the other two are dental laboratory manufactured resin composite premolar endocrown restorations. The modified United States Public Health Service criteria were used to assess the clinical behavior of the restorations at different follow up periods. Endocrown restorations present a satisfactory clinical alternative, either by the use of resin composite or glass ceramic and hybrid materials. Specific guidelines with minimal alterations should be followed for an endocrown restoration to be successful. Due to limited evidence regarding the long term evaluation of this restorative technique, a careful selection of cases should be applied.
Adhesives ; Bicuspid ; Ceramics ; Composite Resins ; Computer-Aided Design ; Dental Pulp Cavity ; Dentistry ; Endodontics ; Follow-Up Studies ; General Practitioners ; Glass ; Humans ; Laboratories, Dental ; Molar ; Tooth* ; United States Public Health Service

dentistry, we suggest a new policy that the preoperative lab must be performed routinely before extraction of the third molar.METHODS: This study is based on 1,096 patients who have been managed with third molar extractions, from March 2008 to September 2011 by a single surgeon. The preoperative lab, including complete blood count, coagulation panel, chemistry and serology, was performed before any surgical procedures. The results were informed to the patients regardless of their abnormalities, and any abnormalities related to the surgical procedures, such as platelet count and coagulation factors, were checked and corrected safely.RESULTS: Through the preoperative blood test, systemic diseases that the patients had not recognized before, such as anemia, leukopenia, fatty liver and chronic renal disease, were identified. Patients with acute or chronic leukemia, Hepatitis B, and HIV positive, were also detected as a small number. Also, the possibilities of the cross-infection between dentists and patients or between patients and patients, and any other emergency situations can be prevented; as well as the public health condition can be improved, too. The patients were satisfied with low cost preventive blood test and high quality of medical services.CONCLUSION: Therefore, routine medical lab testing, including history taking are needed before an office-based minor surgery, such as third molar extractions, and these results were suggested as a new policy in the field of dentistry.]]>
Anemia ; Blood Cell Count ; Blood Coagulation Factors ; Dental Clinics ; Dentistry ; Dentists ; Emergencies ; Fatty Liver ; Hematologic Tests ; Hepatitis B ; HIV ; Humans ; Leukemia ; Leukopenia ; Medical History Taking ; Molar, Third ; Platelet Count ; Public Health ; Pyridines ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; Specialization ; Surgery, Oral ; Surgical Procedures, Minor ; Thiazoles