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Purpose: Symptom checkers (SCs) are virtual health aids to assist laypersons in self-assessing dental complaints. This study aimed to investigate the triage performance, clinical efficacy, and user-perceived utility of a prototype dental SC, Toothbuddy, in assessing unscheduled dental complaints in Singapore., Methods: A pilot trial was conducted amongst all unscheduled dental attendees to military dental facilities in Singapore from January to May 2023. The accuracy of Toothbuddy to tele-triage dental conditions into 3 categories-routine, urgent, and emergency-was determined. Based on the patient-reported symptoms input, clinical recommendations were provided to users for each category. Thereafter, all dental attendees were clinically assessed to determine the definitive category. Finally, a user questionnaire assessed the application's functionality and utility and the user's satisfaction. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were performed., Results: During the study, 588 patients with unscheduled dental visits presented. Of these cases, 275 (46.8%) were evaluated to be routine dental conditions for which treatment could be delayed or self-managed, 243 (41.3%) required urgent dental care, and 60 (10.2%) required emergency dental intervention. The accuracy of Toothbuddy in identifying the correct category was 79.6% (468/588). Sensitivity and specificity in categorising routine vs non-routine conditions were 94.5% (95% confidence interval, 92.0%-97.1%) and 74.0% (95% confidence interval, 68.8%-79.2%), respectively. The app was generally well received and rated highly., Conclusions: Preliminary data suggest that Toothbuddy can perform accurate dental self-assessment for a suitable range of common dental concerns and this is a promising platform for virtual advice on spontaneous dental issues. Furthermore, dental facilities are typically not sized to handle the large volumes of unplanned dental visits that may occur in the military population. SC apps to self-manage or delay treatment without adversely affecting disease prognosis may preserve the limited bandwidth of dental facilities in providing acute care and managing true dental emergencies expediently., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest None disclosed., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The literature on successful practice with vulnerable families reports social workers' efforts in forging therapeutic bonds with clients, their ability to both recognize clients' strengths and pain and support them as they work through adversity. Vulnerable families' own contribu- tions to their change process, however, have remained largely opaque. This article offers concrete conceptual tools to consider both social workers and clients from vulnerable families as active agents in the change process. Empirical evidence collected by practitioner-researchers through in-depth discussions with 10 vulnerable families illustrates clients' agentic capacities for autonomy, construction, and action as well as joint construction and maintenance of the helping relationships with social workers, thereby illustrating their active contribution to the process of change.

While qualitative methods have gained considerable recognition in medical education research, employing multiple qualitative data sources in assessing long-term educational impact is rare. Utilising in-depth data analysis method to six cross-sectional cohorts (2004-2009) of students' reflection papers (n = 213), this article demonstrates how students experienced subtle but important shifts in their attitudes (including personal, professional and spiritual domains) after making field visits to a hospice centre as part of the Special Needs Dentistry module. For retrospective assessment of learning retention, a pilot focus group was conducted with three junior faculty members who participated in the field visits to a hospice during their own undergraduate training. A subsequent focus group was conducted with graduates of the 2008 (n = 8) cohort using a refined discussion guide arising from the analysis of pilot group results. Graduates were unanimous in stating that the visits had sown 'seeds' in their minds and hearts, seeds which started to grow after they completed dental school and began to practice. This is demonstrative of the long-term positive educational impact of the pedagogical design that entailed a special site visit coupled with post-visit debrief and written reflection., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This article provides in-depth insights on the bidirectional dynamics between parents and their children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Five family units (8 parents, 5 children, N = 13) participated in this study. Parents and their child with ADHD were interviewed individually in their homes. Stressful moments of parent-child dynamics revolved around managing their child's behavior and doing homework. Findings highlight the child's agency and power of influence, and the possible recovery of negative dynamics. It is recommended that practitioners adopt the strengths perspective in working with these families and incorporate child's agency and bidirectional dynamics in interventions.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine bilateral dynamics between parents and children in influencing children's tooth-brushing behaviors., Methods: In-depth conversational interviews-a specific qualitative method-were conducted with 38 parents in urban Xiamen, China and Singapore to learn insights into parental strategies for encouraging tooth-brushing habits in 6- to 9-year-old children. The interviews also examined the range of responses from children toward these parental strategies., Results: Children usually do not comply with these tooth-brushing instructions from parents without a process of negotiation. Children's responses ranged from active resistant to compliant. Parents in Xiamen tended to use softer strategies and were more prone to be emotionally and behaviorally influenced by children's effort to thwart these strategies. Conversely, Singapore parents tended to demonstrate greater tenacity in negotiating with children., Conclusions: The process of developing children's tooth-brushing habits is not a unilateral from-parent-to-children process. Instead, it should be conceptualized as an ongoing interaction with bilateral power of influence from both parties.