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Currently, patients with oral medicine conditions from all areas of Northern Ireland are referred by dentists and doctors to a small number of specialist services: predominantly, the Regional Oral Medicine Consultant at the School of Dentistry, Belfast. On receipt of the referral the consultant makes an assessment of the urgency of the case and the patient is placed on a waiting list. Until the recent implementation of waiting list initiatives (Elective Access Protocol, Department of Health, N. Ireland, 2006), patients remained on the waiting list for long periods of time. Analysis of these patient profiles highlights that many need both multiple treatment and review appointments of their chronic conditions, and consequently remain in the hospital system for significant periods of time. This increases the waiting time for these services. The idea of using teledentistry to triage referrals, and its potential as a tool to support locally based treatment, poses an alternative approach to the management of oral medicine referrals. It may be of particular interest to practitioners in rural locations where distance from the regional centre is significant. In 2005, to test this theory, a prototype teledentistry system was set up as part of a service improvement scheme by the Community Dental Service of the Homefirst Legacy Trust (now Northern Trust) in partnership with the Oral Medicine Department at the School of Dentistry, Royal Group of Hospitals Legacy Trust (now Belfast Trust). This paper describes the feasibility study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To investigate if women compared with men dentists experience deferential treatment from their female nurses, what workplace strategies women use to manage chair-side assistance and to examine if these were country related.Method A convenience sample of 22 male and female dentists of different ages working in general dental practice in The Netherlands and Northern Ireland participated. The sample framework was determined by saturation of the concepts. All informants were interviewed in a clinical setting. The data was subjected to rigorous line by line coding in order to identify clusters of codes, themes and concepts.Results Three themes were identified. These were: experiencing deferential nursing assistance; adopting 'friendly-like' working strategies and adopting business-like, hierarchical working strategies. Gender differences were shown for each of the themes. Women rather than men made friends with their nurses and attempted to reduce status inequalities. This led to workplace strategy inconsistencies. This suggested that it was not the type of strategy adopted but the inconsistency with which it was implemented that caused difficulties between younger women dentists and their nurses.Conclusions Training dental students and young graduates how to interact appropriately in the clinical situation and to appreciate the nurses' work status will assist in improving working relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study was undertaken to devise a suitable survey instrument to measure morale, and to undertake an assessment of morale amongst vocational dental practitioners (VDPs) in the UK.Design Postal questionnaire survey.Setting Dental vocational training schemes in the UK.Subjects Vocational dental practitioners.Method A confidential postal questionnaire was used to measure levels of morale among all VDPs in the UK in 2007.Results A response rate of 76.7% was achieved. The mean morale score for Scottish VDPs was significantly higher than that of the Northern Irish VDPs, which in turn was significantly higher than those of the VDPs in England or Wales. In England and Wales females recorded higher morale scores than males. Lowest morale scores were associated with statements referring to concerns about future changes to NHS dentistry, and the limits on treatment within the NHS system. The highest scores were associated with good working relationships.Conclusion The use of an appropriately tested questionnaire has provided a convenient objective measure of morale. The morale of VDPs in the United Kingdom was lower than expected. Scottish VDPs recorded higher morale scores than other VDPs and responded more positively in the survey instrument. The most negative responses from all VDPs were regarding the effect of the NHS system on treatment and concerns about future changes to the NHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article cites that dentists in Northern Ireland may lose their automatic exemption from jury service under a proposal from the Northern Ireland Courts Service. Based on the Northern Ireland Courts Service's "Widening the jury pool," it suggests that jurors should be drawn from a wider pool and that dentists doctors, teachers, midwives, pharmacists and veterinarians should lose their automatic exemption from having to serve on juries.

The article reports on the injection of £4.4 million into health service dentistry to address the problems of access reported in parts of the province announced Northern Ireland Health Minister Michael McGimpsey. £1.5 million being made available to help dentists with the costs of necessary new equipment and procedures is included in the measures. £500,000 will go towards increasing the vocational training allowances for trainers willing to take on new graduates.

The article reports on the proposals of dentists in Northern Ireland for more time to help their patients have healthier teeth and avoid dental disease, according to the British Dental Association's submission to the Primary Dental Care Strategy Consultation. More than two-thirds of dentists in the region believe that they need more time with individual patients so they can take a more preventative approach to care.

Reports on the collaboration of two dental surgeries to increase dental registration in children in Northern Ireland. Concerns of health officers regarding the lower than average registration of 0 to 5 year-olds in the area; Initiative aimed to boost registration in this age bracket; Indications showing the efficacy of the program in stimulating dental registration among children.

The article reports that dentists based in the border region of Ireland and Northern Ireland will now be able to access professional training and education facilities nearer home with the opening of a unique training center in Strabane, Northern Ireland. The cross border Dental Outreach Skills Center will enable clinicians to participate in undergraduate, postgraduate and professional development courses nearer to home, rather than having to travel to urban centers in Dublin, Belfast or further afield, saving hours of traveling time and thus less time lost to patient care. The innovative venture is funded by the INTERREG programme, and secured by Co-operation and Working Together, the cross border health and social care partnership.

ObjectivesTo investigate if female compared with male dentists experience deferential treatment from their female nurses, what workplace strategies women use to manage chair-side assistance and to examine if these were country related.MethodA convenience sample of 22 male and female dentists of different ages working in general dental practice in The Netherlands and Northern Ireland participated. The sample framework was determined by saturation of the concepts. All informants were interviewed in a clinical setting. The data was subjected to rigorous line by line coding in order to identify clusters of codes, themes and concepts.ResultsThree themes were identified. These were: experiencing deferential nursing assistance; adopting 'friendly-like' working strategies and adopting business-like, hierarchical working strategies. Gender differences were shown for each of the themes. Women rather than men made friends with their nurses and attempted to reduce status inequalities. This led to workplace strategy inconsistencies. This suggested that it was not the type of strategy adopted but the inconsistency with which it was implemented that caused difficulties between younger women dentists and their nurses.ConclusionsTraining dental students and young graduates how to interact appropriately in the clinical situation and to appreciate the nurses' work status will assist in improving working relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate if dental nurses perceive gender differences in the communication and interaction style used by their dentist in general practice., Methods: Data were collected from 64 Northern Irish dental nurses (70% response), and from 549 Dutch nurses (41% response). Respondents completed the Communication and Working Styles Questionnaire (CWSQ), a self-report questionnaire with 20 items on staff communication and working styles. Using principal component analysis, six distinguishable factors could be extracted: [1] gender-related (four items, Cronbach's alpha = 0.78), [2] friendly relation (four items, alpha = 0.66), [3] teamwork (four items, alpha = 0.44), [4] playfulness (two items, alpha = 0.69), [5] personal attention (three items, alpha = 0.60), and [6] business-like (two items, alpha = 0.32). Factors [3] and [6] were additionally analysed at item level given their low internal consistencies., Results: MANOVA indicated a main effect for dentist's gender [F(6,541) = 4.649, p < 0.001], and for country [F(6,541) = 37.601, p < 0.001] on the communication style scales. No interaction effect of gender with country was found. Nurses working with a male dentist had higher scores for the 'gender-related' communications styles, whereas those working with a female dentist had higher scores for 'friendly-relation' and 'personal attention' communication styles. Dutch nurses had higher scores on 'playfulness', whereas Northern Irish nurses had higher scores on 'friendly relation' and 'personal attention' communication styles. Some additional differences were found at item level. The age of the dental nurse explained some differences in communication and working styles [F(6,541) = 2.341, p = 0.031); younger dental nurses scored significantly higher for 'gender- related' communication and working style., Conclusion: Gender of the dentist does influence dental nurses' perceptions of the communication styles used in the primary dental care setting. Dental nurses working with female dentists report a style predominantly characterized by 'friendly-relation' and 'personal attention', whereas those working with a male dentist report 'gender-related' communication and working styles. Given the steadily growing percentage of females entering the dental profession, it is recommended to raise both dentists' and nurses' awareness on gender influences in professional communication by introducing these topics in their respective education.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of legionellae in dental unit waterlines (DUWL) in general dental practices in London and rural Northern Ireland and whether the organism occurs at a high enough frequency and magnitude in DUWL to represent a threat to dentists' health., Materials and Method: Two hundred and sixty six (166 London, 100 Northern Ireland) randomly selected dental surgeries were recruited. Standardised 250 ml water samples were taken from the DUWL and 1 litre samples from the surgery cold water tap to measure the prevalence of legionellae. The dentists provided a blood sample for legionella serology., Results: The prevalence of legionellae was very low (0.37%). Legionellae were not isolated from DUWL or surgery basin taps in Northern Ireland. Legionella spp were isolated from the DUWL and surgery basin of one practice in London and from the cold water supply of a further three practices. The prevalence of Legionella pneumophila antibodies was less than that seen in a comparable group of London blood donors., Conclusion: The risk to dentists' health from potential exposure to legionellae in this cohort of dentists was very low and this was confirmed by the very low seroprevalence and antibody titres to legionella detected in the dentists.

There is sometimes an aspect of a disease that can only be uncovered by surgical exposure in surgical cases and, in spite of all the modern scanning and pathological investigations, by the assembly of the patient's history and symptoms in medical cases. My knowledge of Parkinson's disease is minimal, but I am a trained observer and I have attempted to present a brief study of the condition from 'inside looking out' in the hope that it will assist in expanding clinical rapport.