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Abstract In their paper published in BMC Oral Health in March, Barker and Horton present qualitative data which explored Latino parents' main concerns regarding accessing dental care for their pre-school children. In the radical discourse of health promotion the use of participant narratives is a first and essential step in community development interventions. While there is agreement regarding the development and implementation of health promotion, the means by which it is evaluated or the type of evaluation design used, is hotly debated. This commentary outlines the rationale of adopting a randomised controlled trial methodology, contrasts it with realistic evaluation and considers design evaluation in the light of the Medical Research Council's (MRC) guidance of 2000 and 2008. It is at this juncture that the commentary suggests that, despite the MRC's acknowledgement of the limitations of its 2000 guidance, there remains, in the 2008 guidance, an underlying insistence to use design evaluations which control for selection bias and confounding extraneous factors. For the evaluation of health promotion interventions it may remain a case of fitting a square peg into a round hole.

Abstract Objective To assess the factorial structure and construct validity for the Chinese version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). Materials and methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in March 2006 from adults in the Beijing area. The questionnaire consisted of sections to assess for participants' demographic profile and dental attendance patterns, the Chinese MDAS and the anxiety items from the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The analysis was conducted in two stages using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Cross validation was tested with a North West of England comparison sample. Results 783 questionnaires were successfully completed from Beijing, 468 from England. The Chinese MDAS consisted of two factors: anticipatory dental anxiety (ADA) and treatment dental anxiety (TDA). Internal consistency coefficients (tau non-equivalent) were 0.74 and 0.86 respectively. Measurement properties were virtually identical for male and female respondents. Relationships of the Chinese MDAS with gender, age and dental attendance supported predictions. Significant structural parameters between the two sub-scales (negative affectivity and autonomic anxiety) of the HADS anxiety items and the two newly identified factors of the MDAS were confirmed and duplicated in the comparison sample. Conclusion The Chinese version of the MDAS has good psychometric properties and has the ability to assess, briefly, overall dental anxiety and two correlated but distinct aspects.

Objectives: The aim was to confirm the factor structure of Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) and to investigate whether the association of these factors with general anxiety and depression varied across gender. Methods: The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (www.finnbrain.fi) data from the first collection point at gestational week 14 were used. Of the invited participants (n = 5790), 3808 (66%) expectant mothers and 2623 fathers or other partners of the mother agreed to participate, and 3095 (81.3%) mothers and 2011 (76.7%) fathers returned the self‐report questionnaire. Dental anxiety was measured with the MDAS, general anxiety symptoms with Symptom Checklist‐90 (anxiety subscale) and depressive symptoms with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) was conducted to test the equivalence of the factor structure and multiple group SEM (MGSEM) to test the configural invariance (unconstrained model) and metric invariance (structural weights model), across genders. Results: Of those consenting, 3022 (98%) women and 1935 (96%) men answered the MDAS. The MGCFA indicated good convergent validity for the two‐factor model for MDAS, but somewhat low discriminant validity (factors demonstrated 72% shared variance). The MDAS items loaded clearly higher for the assigned factor than to the other factor (differences in loadings >0.2), indicating that the 2‐factor model has merit. According to the final MGSEM model, anxiety symptoms were directly related to anticipatory dental anxiety, but not to treatment‐related dental anxiety. Conclusions: When assessing dental anxiety with MDAS, considering also its two factors may help clinicians in understanding the nature of patient's dental anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to headlines about the oral health of persons experiencing social exclusion resonating in high‐income countries, and research demonstrating the need for urgent action, a symposium entitled 'International Perspectives on Socially Inclusive Dentistry: A Call to Action' was organized for the IADR International Meeting of 2018. The aim of the symposium was to initiate an international dialogue on barriers to care, multidisciplinary action and examples of best practice for service delivery for people experiencing social exclusion; in other words, to develop the idea of inclusion oral health. Through our international exchange, what emerged was an awareness of a lack of professional consensus: What exactly is inclusion oral health? A theoretical framework to push forward the policy, research and practice agenda was clearly needed. This paper advances such a framework. Over the decades, dentistry has forged an approach to service delivery mainly through a business, demand‐led model. While oral health continues to improve globally, an important consequence of this approach is that it compounds the social exclusion that many people are already experiencing because of a constellation of economic, political, cultural and individual factors. Thus, many people are simply not getting the dental care they need. In contrast, drawing on the theoretical literature on social exclusion, intersectionality and othering, we suggest that dentistry could act as an agent for social inclusion as a more responsive, all‐encompassing form of oral health care and delivery. This paper advances a theoretical framework for inclusion oral health, and an action plan to show how inclusion oral health may become one solution in an armamentarium to tackle the global phenomena of oral health inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines different approaches to reading acquisition used in four first grades of a suburban elementary school. Supports the use of a language experience approach as a viable alternative to the basal reader approach for teaching reading and writing. (JK)

A 13-year-old girl was referred by her orthodontist for pre-orthodontic management of her gingival condition that, despite the implementation of appropriate and targeted oral hygiene measures, had not improved and was inconsistent with her level of plaque control. We shall call her by a pseudo name, "Jane". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Communication skills are an integral component of dental undergraduate education. Due to the complex nature of these skills, didactic teaching methods used in other educational contexts can be limited. Interactive and participative methods rooted in modern adult learning theories, such as Forum Theatre, may be more effective in the teaching of communication skills. Aim: To explore the usefulness of Forum Theatre in teaching clinical undergraduate dental students how to break bad news to their patients. Methods: A purposive sample of 4th‐year undergraduate dental students was invited to participate. An evaluation questionnaire was given to the students and collected after the Forum Theatre interactive session. Participants were asked to provide self‐reported accounts on the most and least useful parts of the session, as well as the most important learning outcome. Usefulness of the session in clinical work, increasing confidence and ability in breaking bad news, were evaluated via a 5‐point Likert‐scale type question. Qualitative data were analysed using Framework Analysis to explore the themes found in the open‐text component. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the Likert‐scale items. Results: One hundred and fifteen completed questionnaires were collected from the 2015 and 2016 classes. Most students gave the Forum Theatre session a rating of 3 or above on a 5‐point Likert scale; indicating that they found it useful. Qualitative results also showed that most participants liked the teaching session thanks to its interactive nature, the use of actors and the input of the facilitators. The majority of students showed preference towards smaller groups which give everyone equal opportunity to participate without unnecessary repetition. Conclusion: The results seem to confirm previous findings. Students rated their learning experience involving Forum Theatre favourably. Smaller groups and trained facilitators are required for the success of this teaching method. Further research is needed to assess the long‐term educational benefits of Forum Theatre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]