Legal and Ethical Issues in Treating Adolescent Patients.

Adolescent patients may present with unique and challenging ethical dilemmas and legal considerations during dental treatment. From the moment the patient registers with the practice, the issues of medical history, informed consent, treatment decisions, and role of the patient and parent affect the dynamic of the doctor-patient relationship. Providers are challenged with balancing the physical, psychological, and social changes occurring in these patients and the changing relationships between the patients and their parents/guardians.

Complexities of Providing Dental Hygiene Services in Community Care Settings.

Unlabelled: Direct access care provided by dental hygienists can reduce oral health disparities for the underserved, yet legal, regulatory, and ethical considerations create complexities and limits.

Background And Purpose: Individual state dental practice acts regulate the scope of practice and level of supervision required when dental hygienists deliver care. Yet, inconsistent state practice act regulations contribute to ethical and legal limitations and dilemmas for practitioners.

Is a mid-level dental provider model acceptable to potential patients?

Objective: This study aims to assess patient attitudes toward mid-level dental providers, known as dental therapists (DTs), by surveying those likely to be their patients. The recent adoption of accreditation standards by the Commission on Dental Accreditation has reignited a debate surrounding the state-by-state legalization of DTs in the United States; while the dental profession is divided on DTs, it is important to understand how potential patients may view the DT model.

Methods: A questionnaire that asks about oral health experience, and comfort with the model of a dually trained dental therapist-hygienist, based on a provided definition, was administered to 600 patients and their waiting room companions at a large urban university-based dental clinic.

U.S. Dental school deans' attitudes about mid-level providers.

The introduction of mid-level providers to the U.S. dental workforce is currently a topic of heated debate.

Strategic management and organizational behavior in dental education: reflections on key issues in an environment of change.

With issues such as shrinking revenue, access to care, faculty workloads, and graying faculty, dental schools are faced with difficult challenges that fall to dental school deans to manage. Do dental school deans have the organizational skill sets and ethical frameworks necessary to address the challenges now facing dental schools? The purpose of this article is to pose questions and suggestions regarding some of the key issues in dental colleges today and to stimulate discussion in the dental community about needed changes in dental education.

The state of the art in evaluating the performance of assistant and associate deans as seen by deans and assistant and associate deans.

This study explores the little-understood process of evaluating the performance of assistant and associate deans at dental colleges in the United States and Canada. Specifically, this research aimed to identify the methods, processes, and outcomes related to the performance appraisals of assistant/associate deans. Both deans and assistant/associate deans were surveyed.

Effect of pre-heating resin composite on restoration microleakage.

Improving the adaptation of resin composites during placement is necessary to increase durability and reduce microleakage. Flowable resin liners have been introduced to improve adaptation in composite restorations. In addition, a device that lowers the viscosity of regular dental composites has been introduced (Calset, AdDent Inc, Danbury, CT, USA).

The state of the art in evaluating the performance of department chairs and division heads.

This study explores the little understood process of evaluating the performance of department chairs/division heads in dental schools. Specifically, this research aimed to elucidate the methods, processes, and outcomes related to the job performance of department chairs/division heads. Forty-three deans and 306 chairs completed surveys with both close-ended and open-ended questions.

Microleakage of Class II packable resin composites lined with flowables: an in vitro study.

Flowable resin materials have been suggested as liners beneath packable composites to improve marginal integrity. This investigation evaluated the effect of low-viscosity liners on microleakage in Class II packable composite restorations. Twenty Class II cavities were prepared in extracted third molars for each of four packable composites (Heliomolar HB, Prodigy Condensable, Surefil and Tetric Condense).