Objective: To provide a current perspective concerning dental personnel sensitivity to methacrylate materials. Overview: Methacrylate related sensitivity and allergies are currently beyond traditional thoughts concerning denture base resins and methyl methacrylate provisional materials. Methacrylates are now ubiquitous in current dental practice and dental personnel should be aware that dental adhesives contain potent sensitizers that may also cross-sensitize individuals to other methacrylates not experienced. The growing sensitivity to 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) has been described to be epidemic in nature due to the artificial nail industry with dental patients and dental personnel may be more susceptible to dental methacrylate sensitization. While contact dermatitis remains the most prevalent methacrylate-related clinical presentation, respiratory complications and asthma are increasing associated with methacrylate exposure. While additional personal protective equipment (PPE) is thought to be first protective choice, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) considers PPE overall largely ineffective and should be considered only as a last resort. Conclusion: Dental personnel need to be more aware of methacrylate sources and use workplace control measures to limit methacrylate exposures to both dental personnel and patients. Clinical Significance: Sensitivity to methacrylate materials is a growing dental workplace major concern and dental personnel should be aware of both the methacrylate content of current materials and the products that contain ingredients with the most sensitization potential.
Lean has gained recognition in healthcare as a quality improvement tool. The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which quality improvement projects in healthcare adhered to Lean's eight-step process. We analyzed 605 publications identified through a systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines. Each publication was coded using a structured coding sheet. The most frequent type of publication reported empirical research (48.6%) and most of these (80.3%) shared the results of the Lean projects. Of the 237 publications reporting Lean projects, more than half (71.3%) used an experimental, one-site, pre/postdesign. The impact of the project was most often measured using a single metric (59.1%) that was operational (e.g., waiting time). Although most Lean project publications reported the use of tools to “break down the problem” (84.4%, Step 2) and “see countermeasures through” (70.0%, Step 6), fewer than half described using tools associated with each of the other steps. Projects completed an average of 2.77 steps and none of the projects completed all steps. Although some may perceive low adherence to the tenets of Lean as a deficiency, it may be that Lean approaches are evolving to better meet the needs of healthcare.
The aim of this study was to compare the daily clinical grades of third-year dental students during routine clinical activities involving direct and indirect operative procedures to clinical and laboratory assessments. The authors compared students' daily clinical grades to graded clinical assessments and compared daily clinical grades to laboratory assessments at one U.S. dental school. A total of 50 third-year students (participation rate: 98%) participated in this study during the school year of 2014-15. The study analyzed the students' daily clinical grades and graded assessments during regular clinical activities and two laboratory examinations. The results found no statistically significant differences between daily grades and the clinical assessments (p=0.2845). There were statistically significant differences between daily clinical grades and laboratory assessments (p=0.0024). This study found higher grades were given for procedures completed and graded in the clinical setting. Further studies are needed to explore the possibility of clinical grades being positively skewed.
Objective This study' s purpose was to examine the flexural properties of five direct restorative resin composites stored up to 30 months after the expiration date. Materials and Methods Ambient-stored materials had pre-expiration date baseline flexure strength values as per ISO 4049 (n = 20). All materials were used per manufacturer guidelines, photopolymerized on both sides using a LED-based visible light curing unit, and stored in 0.2M phosphate buffered saline. At 24 hours, specimens were stressed to failure in three-point bend at a 0.5 mm/min cross head speed. Additional samples were made at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, and 30 months past expiration date. Young’s modulus (flexural) was ascertained using the linear slope of the stress-stain curve. Statistical Analysis The mean data was found to contain a non-normal distribution and irregular variance which was compared using Kruskal–Wallis with Dunn’s posthoc testing.Also, Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to identify possible similar degradation behavior between products within both flexure strength and modulus determinations. A 95% level of confidence (α = 0.05) was used. Results Materials maintained similar to baseline flexure strength and modulus for up to 15 months past expiration date with two materials being similar at 30 months. However, clinicians were still advised to follow expiration dates, as resin composite degradation mechanisms are complex and vital constituents might degrade that are not overtly identified by clinical handling characteristics. No dental shelf life standards exist and manufacturers are requested to provide protocol information used in determining shelf life expiration.
Background: The cost of care is often reported as a primary reason why patients fail to seek dental treatment; however, this may not the only component.Aims/Objectives: To examine an underserved population’s perspective on the importance of dental care and barriers they face to seek treatment. The effectiveness of compliance incentives, such as gift cards, were also examined.Methods: We conducted a survey study to gain insight of an underserved population’s perspective of barriers to care and correlated the reported barriers with the true reasons of missed appointments in our study cohort. Appointment compliance was also examined before and after implementation of gift card incentives. Results: Most patients felt dental care was important/very important to them. However, no correlations were found between survey responses and true reasons for missing appointments. Eighty-seven percent of patients report having some form of financial difficulty and compliance statistically improved after implementation of financial compensation in this population (69% completed appointments before gift card implementation versus 75% after gift card implementation, p=0.01), but not after the implementation of additional appointment reminders and contact staff.Discussion: Although the majority of patients reported dental care was important to them, there was an average of 31% missed appointments for patients who completed the survey and no correlations were found between the information patients reported and true reasons for non-compliance. Interestingly, even though care was free of charge, most patients reported to be in some form of financial difficulty and compliance was slightly improved through the implementation of financial compensation. Conclusion: A survey is a resource to identify reasons why patients abstain from seeking care but maybe not the best one as reasons reported do not correlate with true reasons of appointment failure. Financial compensation was shown to improve compliance with appointments. Further information gathering is necessary to gain insight into true barriers to dental care within an underserved population.Trial registration number: NCT01330719. Support. NIH/NIDCR. R01DE019456
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.