Dental prosthetist experience with oral mucosal screening and referral.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate dental prosthetists' experiences with screening and referral for suspicious oral mucosal pathology. METHOD AND MATERIALS: Questionnaires regarding oral mucosal screening and referral were mailed to 300 randomly selected dental prosthetists in Australia for selfcompletion. Non-responders were sent replacement questionnaires up to three times, according to the Dillman method. RESULTS: A total of 179 prosthetists returned completed questionnaires resulting in a response rate of 64.9% after excluding 24 due to incorrectly listed addresses. Most participants reported that they checked all new patients for oral mucosal pathology (99.4%) and most reported that they checked all recall patients for mucosal pathology (86%). Most participants had detected a suspicious lesion (86%) and most had referred for a suspicious lesion (77.3%). CONCLUSION: Australian dental prosthetists appear motivated to perform oral mucosal screening and will refer suspicious oral mucosal pathology when detected.

Benefits of the simplified edentulous treatment (SET) method in communicating with the laboratory.

AIM: According to the literature, a high quality prosthetic rehabilitation consists of physical and psychological acceptance of the denture by the patient, an empathic relationship between the clinician and the patient and correct application of complete denture construction principles. To apply these principles correctly, it is important to establish excellent communication with the technician. Interactions between dentists and technical laboratories is typically characterised by minimal communication, which is considered to be the most significant problem for achieving a qualitatively elevated prosthetic manufacture. The aim of the simplified edentulous treatment (SET) method is to correctly transmit clinical data to the laboratory and maintain these data throughout the entire treatment period. METHODS: One hundred twenty-three completely edentulous, Caucasian patients (71 men and 52 women; medium age: 66 years; range 27 to 85 years) were recruited for this study. The inclusion criteria were total edentulism, both maxillary and mandibular, both in patients wearing and not wearing a complete denture. To complete the denture, the patients were entrusted to 65 teams of two students each, attending the fifth year of their degree course in dentistry and performing their first rehabilitation of an edentulous patient, under the supervision of six skilled tutors. The denture manufacturing was performed by 12 technical laboratories. RESULTS: In the rehabilitation of an edentulous patient, transmission of clinical data to the technical laboratory is effective and reliable. CONCLUSION: The data transfer block allows one to transfer all of the necessary information to the laboratory at one time.

Determinants of AIDS preventive behaviour among dental professionals.

This study was conducted to assess concerns regarding AIDS and to identify determinants of poor preventive behaviour among dentists. Questionnaires were distributed to a random sample of 342 professionals. Respondents showed the lowest knowledge scores on topics dealing with symptoms, epidemiology and AIDS control. The predictors of poor AIDS knowledge were: more than ten years of practice and a strong belief to be professionally susceptible to HIV infection. Sterilization of high speed drills was disappointing; only 14.2% of dentists reported using heat sterilization. Predictors of poor preventive behaviour were: poor ability in clinical AIDS identification, more than ten years of practice and poor knowledge of AIDS prevention and control. Dental burs were the major cause of occupational injury. Professionals who recap needles are three times more likely to sustain needlesticks than those who do not. Our results suggest the need to increase AIDS knowledge and to improve compliance to infection control measures among dentists.