The impact of General Dental Council registration and continuing professional development on UK dental care professionals: (2) dental technicians.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of General Dental Council (GDC) registration and mandatory CPD on dental technicians' views, job satisfaction and intention to leave the profession. DESIGN: Postal/online survey, conducted in parallel with a survey of dental nurses. SETTING: UK private and NHS practices, community services, dental hospitals. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Representative sample of GDC registrants. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: job satisfaction; intention to leave profession (dependent variable in regression analysis). RESULTS: 605 were sampled: 40 were ineligible (left the register in July 2011, re-qualified in another dental care profession, shared a practice address with another selected DT); 193 responded (response rate 34%). 22% were female (mean age 38.2 years) and 78% male (mean age 49.4 years). The general principle of registration was endorsed by 52%, and compulsory registration by 54%, but the fee level by only 13%. Most technicians felt that registration had had either no effect or a negative effect on their view of their career (80%), role (78%) or status within the dental team (85%), and 66% did not agree that training helped them to do their job better. Fifty-one percent were not satisfied with their job and 20% intended to leave the profession. Intention to leave was predicted by greater dissatisfaction with remuneration. CONCLUSIONS: Criticisms regarding the cost and relevance of registration and the cost, relevance and accessibility of CPD, coupled with potentially high level of attrition from the profession, suggest a review of the fee and salary structure and greater support for CPD is warranted.

The impact of General Dental Council registration and continuing professional development on UK dental care professionals: (1) dental nurses.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of GDC registration and mandatory CPD on dental nurses' views, job satisfaction and intention to leave. DESIGN: Postal/online survey, conducted in parallel with a survey of dental technicians. SETTING: UK private and NHS practices, community services, dental hospitals. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Representative sample of General Dental Council registrants. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Job satisfaction; intention to leave profession (dependent variable in regression analysis). RESULTS: Eleven were ineligible (left profession, moved abroad); 267 (44% of those eligible) responded, all female. Respondents' mean age was 38.2 years (sd 10.74). The general principle of registration was endorsed by 67%, and compulsory registration by 51%, but the fee level by only 6%. Most nurses did not feel that registration had affected their view of dental nursing as a career (56%), their role (74%) or status (86%) within the dental team, or that CPD helped them to do their job better (76%). Fifty-six percent were not satisfied with their job, and 22% intended to leave the profession. Intention to leave was predicted by younger age and greater dissatisfaction with physical working conditions and opportunities to progress. CONCLUSIONS: Widely held criticisms regarding the costs and relevance of registration and CPD coupled with a potentially high level of attrition from the profession suggest a review of the fee and salary structure and greater financial support for CPD is warranted.

New Zealand dental technicians and continuing education: findings from a qualitative survey.

Under the 2003 Health Practitioners Competence Assurance (HPCA) Act, New Zealand registered dental technicians are subject to mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements. Internationally, little published literature has examined dental technicians' perspectives of CPD and CPD needs, and there is no published literature relating to the New Zealand context. Available research highlights the importance of CPD for maintaining high professional standards, ensuring patient safety, allowing dental technicians to keep abreast of current research and technological advances, fostering peer networks, and promoting job satisfaction. In 2009, an online open-ended questionnaire was developed to examine New Zealand dental and clinical dental technicians' perspectives of CPD and their perceived CPD needs. In total, 45 New Zealand registered dental technicians responded. Questionnaire responses provided rich qualitative insights into dental technicians' wide-ranging perceptions of CPD, factors that make CPD involvement more or less difficult and more or less desirable, and ways in which CPD access and relevance might be improved. This paper discusses the survey findings in the light of the existing literature on CPD and in relation to the unique New Zealand regulatory environment. It highlights the factors which respondents identified as shaping their CPD decisions, barriers to CPD engagement, perceived CPD needs, suggestions as to how the current CPD system could be improved, and areas for future research.

Current status, crisis and trends in Chinese dental technicians.

BACKGROUND: Chinese dental technicians play a significant role in the globalised market of dental prosthesis fabrication, but this subject has not been investigated in detail. The demand for dental prostheses increases as individuals pay increasing attention to their oral health. Therefore, it is important to investigate the status of Chinese dental technicians. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the current status of Chinese dental technicians. METHODS: Dental technicians' resumés, which reveal information regarding dental technician manpower, degrees, working age and salary, etc., were analysed and compared with those abroad. We also estimated the future demands of dental technician manpower, and discussed some potential solutions. RESULTS: There are fewer dental technicians in China than in other developed countries; they are also of a lower standard. Male technicians outnumber females. The education level of technicians is insufficient, and the education programme is still in its exploratory stage. CONCLUSIONS: The development of dental technician teams in China represents both an opportunity and a challenge. It is important to move forward from the current situation to yield long-term development. This article provides information on the Chinese dental technology industry, identifies the problems and offers solutions for its development.

The relationship between dentists and dental laboratories--predictions for the future.

This article provides an overview of the key market changes that are impacting the day-to-day relationship between dentists and dental laboratories and technicians. There are a variety of factors that facilitate the need for broader communication between dentists and dental technicians.

[Prevention of infection transmission in dental laboratories]. / Prevenirea transmiterii infectiei în laboratoarele de tehnica dentara din Iasi.

UNLABELLED: The professional activity in a dental laboratory is associated with a high risk for infection transmission through the manipulation of impressions and prostheses contaminated with patients' saliva and blood. AIM: To assess the compliance of dental technicians in lasi town dental laboratories with the methods used for preventing infection transmission in their practices. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This questionnaire-based survey included 61 dental technicians aged 22 to 58 years from 29 dental laboratories. The 17 questions were related to the protection equipment, air ventilation, and disinfection of surfaces, instruments, impressions, and prostheses. SPSS 14 system, Chi-Square test were used for data analysis, and the levels of statistical significance were set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: 90.2% of the subjects claim the need of prosthetic items disinfection upon arrival at the laboratory from the dental office (p < 0.05). The protection equipment is used by 49.1% of the dental technicians included in this survey (full equipment 18.0%, safety glasses 45.9%, mask 37.7%, rubber gloves 19.6%). 59.1% of the laboratories are provided with air ventilation, while surface disinfection is common practice in 85.2%. Of the study subjects 62.1% disinfect the impressions, 26.1% the final prosthesis, and 25.0% disinfect the interocclusal registrations (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Educational programs aimed at increasing dental technicians' awareness of infection control by adopting the most effective prevention measures are essential for reducing the incidence of technicians, dentists, and patients; exposure.

Dental technicians: regulation and quality assurance.

For many years, dental technicians were largely self-regulated and left to work without any undue interference from, or legislation by, outside authorities. This situation has changed somewhat dramatically in recent years, primarily as a result of a) mandatory General Dental Council (GDC) registration of UK-based dental technicians and b) the requirement to comply with certain EC directives governing the provision of dental appliances. There seems to be some confusion, however, about these various changes and the ensuing ramifications for dental practitioners. The purpose of this paper is firstly to clarify the various regulatory issues currently surrounding technician registration and the provision of laboratory work ('Made in Britain' or otherwise) and secondly to explore the various internationally-recognised quality assurance standards that can be applied to the production of such work in order to assist dentists in gauging quality-related claims made by dental laboratories, both in the UK and overseas.

Influence of the fabrication process on the in vitro performance of fixed dental prostheses with zirconia substructures.

Chipping of the applied veneering ceramic is reported to be a main clinical failure type of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing- or manually copy-milled zirconia restorations. The aim of this in vitro study was to investigate whether different substructure designs and veneering processes done by different dental technicians do significantly influence chipping in zirconia-based all-ceramic fixed dental prostheses during simulated oral service. Five groups (n = 8 per group) of three-unit zirconia substructures were fabricated in three different laboratories using copy-milling technique. Three series were veneered with identical porcelain (groups 1-3) and one with a second different porcelain (group 4). The fifth group was milled to final contour design without veneering. Dimensions of the connector areas were determined. All fixed partial dentures (FPDs) were adhesively boned on human teeth and thermally cycled and mechanically loaded (1.2 × 10(6) × 50 N; 6,000 × 5°C/55°C) using human antagonists. Restorations were monitored during thermal cycling and mechanical loading (TCML). FPDs which survived were loaded to fracture. FPDs which failed during TCML were investigated with fractographic means. During TCML, chipping took place in groups 1 (two times), 2 (four times) and 3 (five times) (Table 1). Chipping areas varied between 2.3 mm(2) (group 3) and 58.7 mm(2) (group 2). Groups 4 and 5 provided no failures during TCML. Failure in all cases started from contact points, where superficial wear and disruption of the porcelain were found. No significant correlation could be determined between connector thickness and number of failures. Median fracture results varied between 1,011 N (group 3) and 2,126 N (group 2). The results show the necessity of considering individual design and manufacturing of restorations as well as contact situation. Advanced technical training on zirconia-based restorations is recommended.

Who is qualified to design?

Now that registration is in place for dental technicians, it is important to know where our experience and knowledge fit into the GDC dental team. Knowing one's position in that team will help it to become a well oiled machine and help us to produce what the patient wants, without costly mistakes. New materials and techniques often open different treatment plan options and using the technologist's experience will help with costs to the dentist and the patient, and avoid possible problems. I wanted to ask a few questions regarding the experience of dental technologists and the training of dental students, to see whether we could blend or share some of the responsibilities of some appliance designs.

Reconstrução anatômica da face mesial de primeiro pré-molar superior por técnica indireta / Anatomic reconstruction of mesial upper first premolar by indirect technique

Os autores fizeram a avaliação das restaurações indiretas realizadas em primeiro pré-molar superior por técnicos em prótese dentária e concluíram que, mesmo com as facilidades de visualização e execução das restaurações por técnica indireta, nenhuma das restaurações examinadas reproduziu com exatidão a forma original da concavidade da face mesial do primeiro pré-molar superior