Managed care and dentistry: promises and problems.

At its inception in the mid-1950s, managed care held a number of promises for dental care providers and dental patients. Sometime during the development of managed care, however, many programs lost sight of the importance of provider equity. Using data from current programs, the authors contrast the original promises with the realities of managed care in dentistry.

Geriatric dentistry and prevention: research and public policy.

Changing demographics, including the increase in life expectancy and the growing numbers of elderly, has focused attention on the need for dental research activities to be expanded for geriatric dentistry. The elderly are at greater risk for oral disease, since gains in longevity result in more medically compromising conditions or systemic disease with oral manifestations. Also, as edentulism decreases and as more teeth are retained by the elderly, the pattern of oral diseases and the treatment of dental conditions will be altered.

Advances in the epidemiological study of oral-facial diseases.

Both demographic patterns and disease distribution are changing rapidly in the United States. These developments have led to the recognition that the epidemiology of many conditions is poorly understood, and that other research has thus been hindered. Four areas of epidemiological study were chosen for detailed analysis of how new technology will affect the conduct of future research.

A children's oral health status index based on dentists' judgment.

The children's oral health status index was developed as an integrated measure for the direct appraisal of pediatric patient populations in private practices, dental clinics, or school programs. The index is derived from a paired preference experiment with five pedodontists and five general dentists acting as judges of oral health in 200 case comparisons. Four easily measured variables are united numerically by the index: decayed teeth, occlusion, tooth position, and missing teeth (which have not been exfoliated).

Changes in personality among male and female dental graduates.

This study examines changes in personality traits in male and female dental students and recent graduates. The Comrey Personality Scales were administered to two freshman classes, and the test was readministered two months after graduation for one class and twenty-six months after graduation for the other class. Sex.

The effect of supplemental lecture, evaluation method and instructional type on student performance in a preclinical technique project.

This study examined two types of instruction, two methods of evaluation, and the effects of a supplemental lecture in teaching a laboratory technique exercise. Students were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (1) self-instruction, self-evaluation; (2) self-instruction, teacher-evaluation; (3) teacher-aided instruction, self evaluation; and (4) teacher-aided instruction, teacher-evaluation. In addition, half of the students in each of the four groups received a supplemental lecture.

Comparing the effectiveness of the mini-lecture technique to role-playing in a dental psychology course.

The array of instructional methods utilized in teaching behavioral sciences to dental students has included both teacher-centered and student-centered approaches. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two small-group treatments, mini-lecture and role-playing, in teaching dental psychology. Freshman dental students were randomly assigned to 12 groups.

Self and peer perception of male and female dental students.

In order to investigate the similarity and differences between male and female dental students, the Bentler inventories, which utilize both self and peer report formats, were administered to first year students at U.C.L.