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The article reports on the decision of New York City to fluoridate its water supply that has provided a rare bit of really cheerful news to the dentists and public health officials who have been devoting themselves to this cause. Since both the Public Health Service and the Congress are frequently criticized for an excess of caution and within living memory never for an excess of daring, one would have supposed, back in 1951, that fluoridation would be generally accepted within a few years. Evidence has turned up that people with adequate fluorides in their diets have less bone trouble in their older years than people deficient in fluorides.

A study was conducted to assess the pattern of utilization of dental surgery assistants (D.S.A.) by British dentists. 1,188 general dental practitioners working in the National Health Service and 103 private non-N.H.S. dentists responded to a written questionnaire. Although 98.3 % of the N.H.S. dental practitioners utilized a D.S.A., 60.7 % had a D.S.A. at the chairside for 90 % or more of the time. There were only small differences in the pattern of use of D.S.A.'s between N.H.S. and private dentists. The majority (67 %) of D.S.A.'s worked standing, whereas 66.4 % of dentists worked sitting down for 50 % or more of the time. Only 3.1 % of dentists had no D.S.A.'s; over half the dentists worked in practices with two to four D.S.A.'s. Overall, 74.4 % of dentists wished they had more instruction in dental ancillary utilization. The training given to undergraduates did not appear to be sufficient nor meaningful for the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The screw jack method has recently been introduced as a new approach to assessing the occlusal height in edentulous patients. Its use is psycho-physical in nature, and is supposed to rely on neurophysiological mechanisms. Its accuracy has been tested, and it was found to be sensitive to two factors; (i) interactions between dentist and patient, and (ii) to time. More clinical and neurophysiological research is required to refine the method, before it can be expected to replace generally accepted methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses problems of knowledge and obsolescence among dentists. The health professions are founded on specialized bodies of scientific and theoretical knowledge. The authority to control and to limit the behavior of clients is legitimized by the professional's superior knowledge of the nature of the client's problems. Professional expertise may also be a factor in one's standing within the professional community. The problems created by new knowledge are compounded by the fact that knowledge may deteriorate over time. Skills or knowledge which are infrequently used may be lost, or the simple knowledge loss associated with aging may serve to weaken previously held knowledge. Thus, obsolescence may be seen as involving two analytically distinct processes. One is the failure to acquire the new knowledge, skills, and techniques which emerge in the growth of science-based professions. The other is the degeneration of the basic fund of expertise which is transmitted during the period of professional training. Therefore, although the research focuses upon a single medical group, it may have implications for understanding the process of obsolescence among all health occupations.

This research is concerned with the spatial distribution of physicians and dentists among population size classes of incorporated places in the upper Midwest. Specialists were more concentrated in metropolitan places than general practitioners or dentists, but the degree of centralization for all groups has decreased from its level twenty years ago. The trend for specialists is not one of uniform decentralization in which the smallest places gain but, rather, a reordering in which suburban and larger nonmetropolitan cities are emerging as the providers of specialty medical care for the rural population. These hinterland centers contain the facilities and resources to support specialty medicine and are a focus of social and economic life in rural America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correlations between time required for periodontal treatment and the amount of plaque and claculus, pocket depth, and number of teeth were investigated. Forty-one patients were treated by the same dentist and three basic therapeutic procedures were adopted: motivation and instruction in oral hygiene (OH), scaling and elimination of overhangs (Sc) and surgery (Su). The average time needed for each of the procedures was determined. The OH time did not seem to be associated with any of the single variables considered. The Sc time tended to increase with increasing amount of calculus and the Su time with increasing pocket depth. the difficulties in using the numerical epidemiologic parameters for time estimations were pointed out since no reliable association between these factors and treatment time was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on several issues on internal medicine. Frequency of hepatitis in dentists in Ontario; Systemic actinomycosis caused by actinomyces odontolyticus; Type A physicians and coronary risk education.

The article comments on the problem of direct pulpcapping. At present, however, the practitioner is constantly facing the problem of treating a pulp which is severely threatened or perhaps already partly affected by the carious attack. The ideal situation for pulp capping only occurs following the traumatic exposure of a young healthy pulp during cavity or abutment preparation. In most cases direct capping is the inevitable consequence of deep caries and in such cases people cannot rely on the symptoms to diagnose the histological state of the pulp.

This article focuses on the Masserann technique for the removal of metallic fragments which remain lodged in root canals. This technique is of value in a number of cases which could not be treated by conventional methods. The great advantage of this method is that the fragment may be removed quickly with a minimum loss of tooth substance, without heating and without the risk of pushing the fragment still further into the canal. This technique has been practiced to date by several dentists using hand made instruments. The principle of the new method consists of freeing the broken fragment around its periphery.

Patients complaining of toothache were first questioned about the quality of the pain. Each patient was then presented with a card on which were drawn an ordinate labelled ‘intensity’ and an abscissa labelled ‘time’. On this he was asked to make a graph of the pain, being helped to establish the duration and also the intensity of pain in five categories. The resulting graphs were grouped as presented and each graph gives and approximate measurement of toothache in one attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the trends in endodontic practice in Great Britain. Details on the basic principles in clinical endodontics; Development of competent practitioners for the specialty of endodontics; Difficulties in evaluating clinically the traditional artificial classifications of pulpal pathosis.

A sample of dentists and pharmacists in South Wales provided information on their work by questionnaire. Dentists suffered more physical disability, found the pace of work more exacting, and described more difficulties and distastes than did pharmacists. The latter however reported more problems affecting their professional standing. The findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of a dentist and related factors in fulfilling the dentist's duties in a school for the mentally retarded. The dentist has the responsibility of implementing, improving, and maintaining at all times the institution's dental health program. He is also responsible for the dental hygiene and other dental-related problems of each patient, which will require constant association.

The article presents a study of behaviorisms of feeble-minded patients with a focus on the problems involved in the dental care of these people in the U.S. The subjects were observed in their waiting room, operating room, rapport, and nonrapport behaviorisms. Nonrapport behaviorisms were more common in individuals with lower intelligence ratings and rapport behaviors were fewer. Trends were noted which should be of assistance in predicting certain behavior patterns in the average patient, eventually aiding the dentist to a broader understanding of the factors involved in patient management.

The article presents a study on the eruption of permanent teeth in Mongols. Dental records were made of 400 Mongols. The median ages of eruption were calculated for laterally corresponding pairs of permanent teeth and for individual permanent teeth. These eruption ages were delayed to a statistically significant degree for each tooth. The variances were very large but, for each tooth, eruption would be expected within the normal age range in less than 5 percent of Mongols. The estimates for individual teeth were calculated for the right and left side separately and included the upper and lower limits of the medians.

A description is provided of the dental services provided by the dental section of the Haight-Ashbury Medical Clinic, accompanied by a cost analysis of the services. The limitations and implications of the program are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to view the organized dental profession—during the mid-1960s—as it attempted to cope with the onrush of demands for social change and more effective organization of health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The program of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in using auxiliary personnel, trained for relatively short periods, to deliver dental services is described and the experience in it is evaluated. Problems are discussed and such programs and their expansion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dental Health Division (North Carolina State Board of Health) has a project to evaluate its major dental activities through screening the lower left first permanent molar of children in schools visited by a staff dentist of the Division. Methods used for screening and evaluation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A discussion is presented of the expanded functions of dental auxiliaries and the recognition of this development in terms of licensure. Further revision of dental practice acts is urged to meet the increasing demand for dental care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is gerodontics, that branch of dental science concerned with the effects of aging on the occurrence, prevention and treatment of dental disease, and how dentists relate to this field. Factors affecting this problem, especially dental education are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A questionnaire study of Minnesota dentists and dental students dealing with current issues revealed differences in their perception among various subgroups according to age, size of community and type of practice. Younger dentists and other students were more willing to delegate new duties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the method of peer review in trying to control the quality of health care, specifically dental care. Attention is given to the means by which this is done, problems encountered, and the potential uses of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study to identify demographic variables characteristic of areas which attract useful physicians is reported. Population size seems to be the most important single factor in determining physician location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What dental schools can do to improve the shortage of professional personnel in dentistry is the theme here. This topic is developed in terms of one school of dentistry, but the experience is more widely applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the viability and problems of dental service corporations in the U.S., including the possibility to subject dental expenses for insurance. Unlike the initial expansion of hospital expense protection, the lead in fostering dental expense coverage has not been assumed by the purveyors of care. A dental service corporation is a nonprofit organization through which dental expenses are financed in whole or in part and in which all licensed dentists within a given area are allowed to participate on a basis of compensation other than salary. It appears that most of the dentists in the U.S. feel there is a need for dental expense coverage in some form if the public is to receive adequate dental care, although there is some disagreement as to the type of insuring organization that is most appropriate.

Using survey data from a national sample of adults, an analysis was made of the relationship between individuals' prestige rating of dentists and several other perceived characteristics 0/ dentists. Varying, but generally low, relationships were found with measures of the respondents' evaluation of the professional work, their perceptions of the scarcity of the required skills, their perceptions of the dentists' possession of valued characteristics, and their experience with dentists in receiving dental care. A high relationship was found with the amount of prestige accorded to other professions relative to non-professions. These findings have important methodological implications for testing theoretical explanations of the bases of the occupational prestige hierarchy and also substantive implications for the character of those explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient anxiety during three phases of a dental appointment indicated that subjectively experienced anxiety increased as treatment approached and dramatically decreased after treatment. The amount of anxiety change was different for men and women. Implications for anxiety reduction in the dentist's office are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article lists participants in the National Conference on Growth and Development at the Dental Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971 including H. Stanley Bennett, Andrew M. Dixon, and Robert M. Nelson.

The article discusses the proceedings of a meeting of the North American branch of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) that was held on March 19, 1971 in Chicago, Illinois. The meeting covered various organizational aspects of the IADR including budget and financial statements, appointments of members to various committees, and an index of authors who contributed to the IADR.

The article discusses suppression of the gag reflex by exaggerated respiratory movements. The authors examine ways that dentists can minimize the risk of patient gagging, since patients who gag easily during dental procedures present many problems. The authors detail an experiment to discover methods of suppressing the gag reflex.

Aerosols generated by the air turbine handpiece contain oral microorganisms that are a potential health hazard to the dentist. The effectiveness of different face masks in preventing cross contamination varied greatly but in all instances was significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the status of dental research in 1967. The author discusses various aspects regarding the annual meetings held by the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) . Communications between the author and IADR president, Richard Samuel Manly, are reviewed. Comments made by Louis Pasteur on research are also presented.

The article presents the inaugural address of Martin A. Rushton, president of the International Association for Dental Research, as delivered on March 21, 1964.

The article reviews the proceedings for the thirty-third general meeting of the International Association for Dental Research, held in Chicago, Illinois, on March 18-20, 1955. Keynote speakers at the event included Daniel F. Lynch and Harold Urey. Several awards presented are discussed, including the Wilmer Souder award and the Novice Award.

The article presents information on the proceedings of the thirty-first general meeting of the International Association for Dental Research, which took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 20-22, 1953. Awards presented to members are mentioned, including the Novice Award, which was presented to John J. Salley. The presidential address was delivered by Francis A. Arnold.

The article presents the study which investigates the relationship between man's ability to make close friends and the nature of his work. This study assesses that about 84 percent of college professors, 48 percent of advertisers, and about 16 percent of dentists are capable to have at least three best friends as their occupational colleagues. Differences between individuals were also apparent among manual workers, where 41 percent of them got the chance to get together socially with their fellow-workers. An interview survey was conducted to explore further the nature of factors, extrinsic, and intrinsic which influence occupational community. It was assessed that service occupations have greater chances of making friends than business people.

The article discusses the proceedings of a meeting between a dental organization and the American Association for the Advancement of Science which took place on December 30, 1932 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The article includes a summary of the meetings, a list of those who presented papers, and abstracts of the papers.

This article discusses the proceedings of the International Association for Dental Research in Columbus, Ohio from March 19-20, 1932. Lists of dentists who were in attendance are presented grouped by the section of the International Association for Dental Research to which they belonged. The coordination of the meeting of the International Association for Dental Research with the American Association of Dental Schools is noted.

Notes on the proceedings of the New York Academy of Dentistry (NYAD) from 1931-1932 are presented. A resolution against dental advertising from the NYAD is presented. Clinics on dental practice and presentations on dental research are also noted. Research into the physiological properties of soaps and the dental caries-index is also described.

This article discusses the relationship between dentists and physicians as professionals. While the author acknowledges that dentistry has benefited from developments in medical science, he also cautions against assuming that dental practices is a specialty of the medical profession. The author also addresses the possibility of health care reform from the perspective of dentistry.

The article presents numerous abstracts on dental topics which include research on dental caries, the role of dental practitioners in dental research, and graduate studies in dentistry in the U.S. and Canada.

The article presents a symposium on the obligations of dental practitioners in the care of children's teeth. Many orthodontists exaggerate the difficulties guiding the development of children's teeth. The primary responsibility of pedodontists is to protect children's teeth from disease. Many dental practitioners hope to improve their care of children.

The article presents an examination of three dental instruments used to make measurements of the mouth in order to better understand dental development. The importance of understanding how the oral cavity develops in children is crucial in determining the course of action a dentist may take when examining a patient.

The article looks at personality traits which are prevalent in successful dentists. The most common causes of success and failure among dentists are reviewed. The author feels that successful dentists exhibit self-control, leadership, adaptability, honesty, and patience. The use of psychological tests in the dental profession is mentioned.