A preliminary communication on whether general dental practitioners have a role in identifying dental patients with mental health problems.

Objective: To examine whether general dental practitioners regard themselves as having a role in identifying dental patients with mental health problems.

Method: Telephone interviews were conducted with, and postal questionnaires were sent to, a random sample (n = 94) of general dental practitioners on Health Authority lists within the Mersey Region. A total of 84 general dental practitioners responded, resulting in an 89% response rate.

Matching dental practice board data to the health authority population register.

Objective: To evaluate the process of matching Dental Practice Board (DPB) registration data to the health authority (HA) register for a defined locality. This included testing for the presence of socio-economic bias in the postcodes held in the DPB data sets and to determine if patients travelling to obtain primary dental care would have an effect on the matching process at health authority level.

Basic Research Design: All 21 general dental practitioners in Ellesmere Port, South Cheshire gave written consent for the DPB to provide files of their registered patients to the health authority.

Dental caries, contact with dental services and deprivation in young children: their relationship at a small area level.

Objective: To measure the relationship between tooth decay, contact with dental services and deprivation at electoral ward level.

Setting: The study was carried out in 1998 in Ellesmere Port in the North West of England.

Subjects And Materials: All children younger than six years resident in Ellesmere Port registered with GDS services and those using CDS services were matched against the HA population register to identify unregistered children.

Socioeconomic and geographical influences on primary dental care preferences in a population of young children.

Objective: To compare the socioeconomic profiles of children registered in the GDS, with those using the CDS services and unregistered children. Secondly to examine the effects of socioeconomic status on travelling to access primary dental care, and finally to map out the location of unregistered children in relation to primary dental care services.

Setting: The study was carried out in 1998 in Ellesmere Port in the North West of England.

The identification of agreed criteria for referral following the dental inspection of children in the school setting.

Aim: To clarify the function of the school based dental inspection.

Objective: For representatives of the Community Dental Service, General Dental Service and Hospital Dental Service to identify an agreed set of criteria for the referral of children following school dental inspection.

Design: Qualitative research methodology used to establish a consensus for the inclusion of referral criteria following dental screening.