Three papers published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, “The Public Looks at Dental Care,”’ “Dentists and the Practice of Dentistry as Viewed by the Public,”’ and “What the Public Thinks of the Dentist and Dental Health,”3 indicate that public reaction to the practice of dental care is important to dental practitioners as well 1s dental researchers. An increasing amount of res...

This project was undertaken to compare the opinions of private and public dental school students' perceptions concerning extramural programming, which is defined as any aspect of the curriculum in which undergraduate dental students provide dental care outside the main dental facility. A survey instrument was used to collect data from undergraduate students at a private (N = 267; 88.4 percent r...

According to the report Healthy People 2010, oral health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate oral health decisions. Studies have linked a patient's health literacy to a variety of significant health behaviors, statuses and outcomes. This article provides an overview of th...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to collect baseline data pertaining to the oral health of Hispanics residing in Siler City, NC, a microcosm of the flourishing Latino growth found especially in the southeastern United States. METHODS A convenience sample of 158 Hispanic adults was recruited. A 41-item Spanish language survey was utilized. Questions addressed preventive oral health practi...

Since the founding of dental schools as institutions distinct from medical schools, dentistry-its practice, service delivery, and insurance coverage, for example-and dental care have been kept separate from medical care in the United States. This separation is most detrimental to undeserved groups at highest risk for poor oral health. As awareness grows of the important links between oral and g...

The economic and educational affluence of recent years has produced a heightened public awareness of the correlation between personal health and general well-being. Coincidently the development of the ideal concept of individual right to comprehensive professional health services is beginning t o put stress on systems for delivering health care. The preventive measures from public health have n...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate whether television-based dental health promotion initiatives in General Practice waiting rooms would increase patients' knowledge of and intentions to seek dental services. METHODS This cross-sectional survey of 2,345 patients attending 49 General Practices in Brent, northwest London, evaluated the 'Life Channel' - a series of six brief health promotion...

The pipeline from Pennsylvania dental education to Pennsylvania practice, rural practice, and low service area practice is described and analyzed. The article contends that pipeline development is an effective vehicle in meeting the public health mandate of ensuring access to dental care for all residents. Data from the American Dental Association served as the basis for addressing the two majo...

In 1921, New Zealand began training school dental nurses, subsequently deploying them throughout the country in school-based clinics providing basic dental care for children. The concept of training dental nurses, later to be designated dental therapists, was adopted by other countries as a means of improving access to care, particularly for children. This paper profiles six countries that util...