A county-level cross-sectional analysis of positive deviance to assess multiple population health outcomes in Indiana.

Objective: To test a positive deviance method to identify counties that are performing better than statistical expectations on a set of population health indicators.

Design: Quantitative, cross-sectional county-level secondary analysis of risk variables and outcomes in Indiana. Data are analysed using multiple linear regression to identify counties performing better or worse than expected given traditional risk indicators, with a focus on 'positive deviants' or counties performing better than expected.

A School-Based Dental Program Evaluation: Comparison to the Massachusetts Statewide Survey.

Background: School-based dental programs target high-risk communities and reduce barriers to obtaining dental services by delivering care to students in their schools. We describe the evaluation of a school-based dental program operating in Chelsea, a city north of Boston, with a low-income and largely minority population, by comparing participants' oral health to a Massachusetts oral health assessment.

Methods: Standardized dental screenings were conducted for students in kindergarten, third, and sixth grades.

Oral health policy forum: developing dental student knowledge and skills for health policy advocacy.

This article describes the planning, sequential improvements, and outcomes of Indiana University School of Dentistry's annual Oral Health Policy Forum. This one-day forum for fourth-year dental students was instituted in 2005 with the Indiana Dental Association and the Children's Dental Health Project to introduce students to the health policy process and to encourage their engagement in advocacy. Following a keynote by a visiting professor, small student groups develop arguments in favor and in opposition to five oral health policy scenarios and present their positions to a mock or authentic legislator.

Navigating career pathways--dental therapists in the workforce: a report of the career path subcommittee.

Creating career pathways to facilitate current dental and other healthcare providers becoming dental therapists can be an efficient means to expand the dental workforce and reduce barriers to access to oral health services. Career pathways are proposed to facilitate dental providers building on previously learned skills to broaden their scope of practice and become even more versatile and productive providers of oral health services. Creation of a unified and integrated curriculum will enable research to document the effectiveness of this new dental provider who will work as part of dental teams and with supervision by dentists.

Dental providers' attitudes regarding the application of fluoride varnish by pediatric health care providers.

Objectives: To ascertain what proportion of dental hygienists and dentists in Indiana, United States, support the application of fluoride varnish in medical offices, and to determine if support differed by dental provider characteristics, practice characteristics, a limited assessment of knowledge about fluoride, or use of fluoride.

Methods: Practicing dental hygienists and dentists in 2005 were asked to fill out a mail questionnaire. Logistic regression models tested the association of independent variables with support for medical providers applying varnish.

Dental caries experience and association to risk indicators of remote rural populations.

Background: Dental caries continues to be the most common infectious disease of childhood; however, it is no longer pandemic, but endemic in specific sectors of populations. Therefore, it is important to identify and target patients at risk of developing caries in order to develop specific preventive measures.

Aim: This study aims to test dental caries risk indicators for significant associations with caries severity.

Basic oral health needs: A professional priority?

The inadequacy of access to oral health care is a complex problem facing society. Many in society who need care are unable to obtain it or do not seek it for a variety of reasons. Most commonly, these are the unfunded, who simply have inadequate resources; the "unaccepted," who may not have dental coverage or have types of coverage that are not accepted by private practitioners; the inaccessible, who may be homebound or live in sparsely populated or low-income geographic areas without dental providers; the unconvinced, who may have resources but do not believe in or recognize the need for treatment; and the unmotivated, who may realize that they need care but for them it is not a priority.

A framework for service-learning in dental education.

Service-learning has become an important component of higher education. Integrating service-learning into dental and dental hygiene curricula will foster graduates who are better prepared to work effectively among diverse populations and to function dynamically in the health policy arena. Although the phrase is familiar to dental educators, there is not a consistent understanding of what comprises this pedagogy.