The Dental Board of Australia has released the “Consultation Paper on Registration Standards and Related Matters” for comment. This paper contains information on proposals for mandatory registration standards, specialist registration and endorsements. Read the document here.
Cochrane Library has published a new systematic review titled “Adhesively bonded versus non-bonded amalgam restorations for dental caries”. The author concludes that “no evidence to either claim or refute a difference in survival between bonded and non-bonded amalgam restorations”. To read the full review click here.
ONIX (Oncology Information Exchange) is a free online cancer research portal launched by the UK National Cancer Research Institute. By enabling the user to search multiple cancer-related databases simultaneously it allows large volumes of data to be searched more easily and efficiently.
To access the NCRI Oncology Information Exchange go to: http://www.ncri-onix.org.uk/portal/
A landmark legal case heard in Victoria has ruled that tooth whitening should be performed by dentists, with Professor Laurie Walsh acting as an expert witness in the case. An action was brought by the Dental Practice Board of Victoria against a beauty therapist for the illegal practice of dentistry. The client suffered chemical burns and other adverse effects from the tooth whitening treatment.
You can read more about the case here.
The new library “Research output and impact” webpage is now available online at: http://www.library.uq.edu.au/research/roi.html
This webpage is a useful source of information on Metrics, Rankings, Citation counts and Open access.
AIHW has released a new report titled “Oral health impacts among children by dental visiting and treatment needs”. The main findings of this report are:
Only a minority of Australian children (<12%) regularly experienced toothache or the need to avoid eating certain foods because of problems with their teeth or mouth.
* More than 90% of parents considered their child’s oral health to be good, very good or excellent.
* Oral health impacts varied by children’s age, sex and state of residence.
* Children with more oral health impacts were more likely to visit the dentist regularly.
* Reduced dental visiting was associated with poorer oral health.
* Greater treatment need was strongly associated with more oral health impacts.
To access the document click here.
2008 Impact Factor Now Available
The database Journal Citation Reports has been updated and the 2008 journal Impact Factor is now available. The Impact Factor allows you to evaluate and compare the 7,500 scholarly journals indexed in the Web of Science and can show you:
* Most frequently cited journals in a field
* Highest impact journals in a field
* Largest journals in a field
“You should not depend solely on citation data in your journal evaluations. Citation data are not meant to replace informed peer review. Careful attention should be paid to the many conditions that can influence citation rates such as language, journal history and format, publication schedule, and subject specialty.” Thomson Reuters
The AIHW Dental Statistics and Research Unit has just published a new report.
Health cardholders who visit a public dentist have a similar level of oral health and receive similar dental care as those who visit a private dentist. This publication presents findings on health cardholders attending for dental care in the private and public sector using data from the National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004-06. Health cardholders such as age pensioners and the unemployed have government entitlement cards and are eligible for public dental care. But while dental health and care was similar for those using either public or private dentists, this may reflect a general level of disadvantage common to all cardholders. Where differences did exist, the differences consistently involved either poorer oral health status or less desirable service patterns for those who visited the public sector compared to the private sector.
You can access the report on the web from here.
Some 40% of five-year-olds in the UK have tooth decay and at least one in 10 of these is treated with fillings.
But anecdotal evidence from 50 dentists gathered by Manchester University researchers suggests filling baby teeth may not offer significant benefits. Read more....
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recently announced new oral health guidelines for expectant mothers and infants. The guidelines call for all pregnant women to receive counseling and oral healthcare during pregnancy, and also that infants receive an oral health risk assessment and oral care by their first birthday. Read more