Background: A national survey was undertaken to establish a baseline of our final year students' perception of how their undergraduate oral surgery education has equipped them for key areas of general dental practice.

SummaryPhosphorus (P) speciation in 21 basaltic and four non-basaltic Irish grassland soils was determined by NaOH-EDTA extraction and 31 P NMR spectroscopy. Organic P in basaltic soils ranged between 30and 697 mg P kg À1 and consisted of phosphate monoesters (84-100%), DNA (0-16%) and phosphonates (0-5%). Inorganic P was mainly phosphate (83-100%) with small concentrations of pyrophosphate (0-17%). Phosphate monoesters were more important as a proportion of extracted P in basaltic soils, probably because of their greater oxalate-extractable Fe and Al contents. Phosphate monoesters appeared to be strongly associated with non-crystalline Al and increased with total soil P concentration, indicating that they do accumulate in grassland soils. In non-basaltic soils myo-inositol hexakisphosphate constituted between 20 and 52% of organic P, while scyllo-inositol hexakisphosphate constituted between 12 and 17%. These compounds were not quantified separately in basaltic soils because of poor NMR resolution in the phosphate monoester region, but appeared to represent a considerable proportion of the organic P in most samples. DNA concentrations were greater in basaltic soils compared with non-basaltic soils and were associated with acidic pH and large total C contents. The inability of the Olsen P test to assess effectively the P status of basaltic soils may result from strong phosphate sorption to Fe and Al oxides, inducing plant utilization of soil organic P. Phosphorus nutrient management should account for this to avoid over-application of P and associated financial and environmental costs.

This checklist-based assessment of suturing skills was found to have face and content validity. Its reliability was promising, but merits further investigation. There may be an argument for the standardisation of the assessment of this core surgical skill throughout several UK-based dental schools.

Using this generic checklist, it may now be possible to pool data inter-institution to perform more powerful analyses on how our students obtain, or fail to obtain competence in forceps exodontia.

The study aim is to investigate characteristics, barriers and enablers for attendance at the Diabetic Eye Screening Programme Northern Ireland (DESPNI) among people with diabetes aged 12–26 years. A mixed-methods approach with retrospective analysis and prospective, questionnaire-based data collection was completed. Data were analysed using ordinal logistic regression. A questionnaire collected information on barriers and enablers to attending DESPNI. Age, diabetes duration, attendance at diabetes clinic and lower HbA1c values were significantly associated with better attendance. Those aged 12–15 were more likely to attend screening than 16–26 years, odds ratio (OR) 4.01. Subjects diagnosed less than 5 years were more likely to attend than those with longer diabetes duration (OR = 2.52, p =< 0.001). Subjects who attended diabetes clinics were more likely to attend screening (OR = 1.89, p =< 0.001) and have a lower HbA1c (OR = 1.46, p =< 0.001). Questionnaires revealed major barriers to attendance which included inconvenient appointment times, lack of access and poor communication. While many subjects were aware of the impact of diabetes on the eye, many had little understanding of screening. This study provides pivotal information on potential barriers and enablers for young people attending eye screening. We suggest modest changes such as convenient appointment times, clearer communication and one-stop clinics could improve attendance.