Background: Estimates suggest that one in two people will experience cancer in their lifetime. Cancer and the treatment of cancer can have several impacts on oral health. It is therefore important that dental teams are supported in managing this group of patients especially in primary care dental settings, where most of these patients will first present to dental services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent years, there has been an increase in interest in what environmental sustainability means for healthcare, including oral health and dentistry. To help facilitate discussions among key stakeholders in this area, the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme held a workshop in November 2022. The purpose of this workshop was to explore current thinking on the subject of sustainability as it relates to oral health and to help stakeholders identify how to engage with the sustainability agenda.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Smile4life is Scotland's national oral health improvement programme for people experiencing homelessness, aimed at reducing oral health inequalities experienced by this population. This study forms part of an evaluation of how the Smile4life intervention was being implemented within Scottish NHS Boards. The aim was to investigate the influence of the Smile4life intervention upon the engagement behaviours of Smile4life practitioners.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: This study aimed to inform the implementation of the updated Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) guidance, 'Management of Dental Patients taking Anticoagulant or Antiplatelet Drugs', and to determine training needs by investigating dental professionals' current practice and beliefs regarding management of patients taking these medications.
Methods: Dental professionals were recruited via the NHS Education for Scotland Portal. The online questionnaire collected demographic information, data on current practice and information about beliefs regarding behaviours related to the management of patients on anticoagulant or antiplatelet medication.
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a series of significant changes and adjustments within dentistry, as dental professionals dealt with temporary closures of dental practices, increased use of personal protective equipment, a reduction of clinical procedures, and extensions to training programmes. Recent research has illustrated the impact of the pandemic on the dental profession, indicating that many dental professionals felt emotionally exhausted and experienced significant uncertainty and anxiety. This qualitative study aimed to understand how these experiences and emotions changed over the course of six months, in dental trainees and primary dental care staff in Scotland.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Professional identity development is a central aim of medical education, which has been disrupted during COVID-19. Yet, no research has qualitatively explored COVID-19's impact across institutions or countries on medical students' identities. Kegan proposes a cognitive model of identity development, where 'disorientating dilemmas' prompt student development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To assess the safety and tolerability of a vandetanib-eluting radiopaque embolic (BTG-002814) for transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with resectable liver malignancies.
Materials And Methods: The VEROnA clinical trial was a first-in-human, phase 0, single-arm, window-of-opportunity study. Eligible patients were aged ≥18 years and had resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (Child-Pugh A) or metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).
Introduction: Recent cross-sectional surveys have shown the detrimental impact of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of dental practitioners and dental care professionals. This qualitative study complements the growing quantitative evidence base with an in-depth exploration of the lived experiences of those working in primary care dental teams in Scotland.
Methods: Focus groups were carried out with primary care dental team members and trainees between July and October 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed increased demands on clinical staff in primary dental care due to a variety of uncertainties. Current reports on staff responses have tended to be brief enquiries without some theoretical explanation supported by developed measurement systems. To investigate features of health and well-being as an outcome of the uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 for dentists and dental health professionals in primary dental care and for those in training.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) initiated a rapid review of the evidence related to the generation and mitigation of aerosols in dental practice. To support this review, a survey was distributed to better understand the provision of aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) in dentistry.
Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to dental professionals asking about their current practice and beliefs about AGPs.
Objective: To determine the feasibility of using radiopaque (RO) beads as direct tumour surrogates for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) in patients with liver tumours after transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE).
Methods: A novel vandetanib-eluting RO bead was delivered via TACE as part of a first-in-human clinical trial in patients with either hepatocellular carcinoma or liver metastases from colorectal cancer. Following TACE, patients underwent simulated radiotherapy imaging with four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT) and cone-beam CT (CBCT) imaging.
Background: People experiencing homelessness have high levels of dental decay, oral cancer and poor oral health-related quality of life. The Scottish Government sought to address these issues by developing a national oral health improvement programme for people experiencing homelessness, named Smile4life. The aim was to investigate implementation behaviours and the role of work-related beliefs upon the delivery of the Smile4life programme across NHS Board areas in Scotland.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Ensuring that healthcare is patient-centred, safe and harm free is the cornerstone of the NHS. The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) is a national initiative to support the provision of safe, high-quality care. SPSP promotes a coordinated approach to quality improvement (QI) in primary care by providing evidence-based methods, such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Breakthrough Series Collaborative methodology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdolescence is often a time when risk-taking behaviours emerge and attendance at primary health care is low. School-based health services can serve to improve access to health care. Clinicians play a key role in improving adolescents' health literacy and capacity to make informed care decisions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: It has been a decade since a landmark Lancet publication declared that 'climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century'. Since then, Australia has experienced unprecedented warming related to climate change and an associated increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including heatwaves, droughts, storms, bushfires and air pollution. These events have had major impacts on community physical and mental health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To validate the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) breast cancer nodal clinical target volumes (CTVs) and to investigate the Radiotherapy Comparative Effectiveness Consortium (RADCOMP) Posterior Neck volume in relation to regional nodal recurrences (RNR).
Methods: From a population-based database, 69 patients were identified who developed RNR after curative treatment for breast cancer. RNRs were detected with 18-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT).
Introduction A pilot project was developed whereby vocational dental practitioners (VDPs) became involved in the Caring for Smiles programme, visiting care homes and observing staff training.Aim The project aimed to explore VDPs' views and experiences of delivering oral healthcare in the care home environment.Method Qualitative data were collected via an online questionnaire and reflective logs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Transl Radiat Oncol
November 2019
Background: Breast/chest wall irradiation (RT) increases risk of cardiovascular death. International Quantitative Analysis of Normal Tissue Effects in the Clinic (QUANTEC) guidelines state for partial heart irradiation a "V25Gy <10% will be associated with a <1% probability of cardiac mortality" in long-term follow-up after RT. We assessed whether women treated with breast/chest wall RT 10-years ago who died of cardiovascular disease (CVD) violated QUANTEC guidelines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImaging has an essential role in the planning and delivery of radiotherapy. Recent advances in imaging have led to the development of advanced radiotherapy techniques-including image-guided radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, stereotactic body radiotherapy and proton beam therapy. The optimal use of imaging might enable higher doses of radiation to be delivered to the tumour, while sparing normal surrounding tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYoung homeless people make up nearly one-third of those experiencing homelessness. The need to provide an educative approach, to strengthen social interacting, and construct new knowledge to increase social inclusivity, is required. The aim of this qualitative exploration was to use critical consciousness as an educative tool, to co-design, implement, and evaluate a series of oral health and health pedagogical workshops to strengthen social engagement and to construct new health knowledge, with, and for, homeless young people and their service providers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmile4life is an intervention aimed at improving the oral health of people experiencing homelessness in Scotland. The purpose of this research was to determine how this intervention was being translated from guidance into action. Data concerning Smile4life working practices were collected in three NHS Boards using participant observation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDent J (Basel)
December 2018
The aim of this research was to conduct an oral health and psychosocial needs assessment of a homeless population in Scotland to determine the levels of unmet need and provide recommendations for oral health improvement. A non-probability convenience sample of homeless people residing in seven Scottish Health Boards was collected. All consenting participants were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their health and psychosocial needs, dental anxiety, and oral health-related quality of life.
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