Special considerations for treating dental patients exhibiting the "post-polio syndrome".

A condition called "Post-polio Syndrome" (PPS) is a special type of neuromuscular disturbance that affects some elderly patients who had polio myelitis either as children or as young adults. It has been reported that approximately 1,600,000 polio survivors are alive today. Most will seek dental care, and up to half of the survivors will present with some form of PPS. This paper describes polio, its characteristics, and the long-term consideration of PPS, and discusses the special clinical implications related to this condition. Special emphasis is placed on physical impairments, breathing problems, and difficulty swallowing. Also included are sections discussing such topics as patient scheduling, office design and housekeeping, patient management, oral hygiene, diagnostic procedures, drug and pain management, and general health considerations.

Treatment planning instruction in North American dental schools, 1984-85.

A questionnaire developed to determine the structure and processes associated with dental treatment planning curricula was sent to the 70 American and Canadian dental schools in 1984. Information was solicited on administrative organization of treatment planning, faculty and their qualifications, time committed to and placement of treatment planning in the curriculum, teaching methods, evaluation procedures, clock hours for preclinical and clinical instruction, scope of clinical treatment plans, subject matter in the curriculum, textbook utilization, graduation requirements, and the inclusion of treatment planning examinations by the regional licensing board. Sixty-two schools responded, a response rate of 88 percent. The administrative and curricular structure of treatment planning depended primarily on the clinical and departmental organization of the school. The majority of respondents had an average of four full-time faculty members, usually affiliated with a department of oral diagnosis, responsible for teaching treatment planning. Eighty-one percent of the respondents offer preclinical treatment planning information and 85 percent develop clinical treatment plans, varying from identification of general treatment areas to comprehensive, sequential treatment plans with appropriate alternatives. The findings indicated that there is no definite distinction between oral diagnosis and treatment planning in many schools. Currently, there are no curricular guidelines focused exclusively on the principles of dental treatment planning.