Dencare practice donates mobile dental unit to Dentaid

Dencare's Mill House Dental Care practice in Worthing, Sussex, was delighted to be able to donate a mobile dental unit to Dentaid recently, and is confident it will prove invaluable in its new destination. Dentaid is a charity that seeks to provide dentistry to third world countries bringing relief to thousands of people in places where tooth decay is rife, abscesses can cause death and DIY extractons are commonplace. Dentaid strives to meet the needs of dentists, hospitals and clinics in these under developed countries by supplying good quality, used equipment from dental surgeries in the West. Dentaid is also working to establish sustainable oral health training programmes covering disease prevention and primary oral health care. For details on how you can help Dentaid and bridge the gap between need and waste call 01794 324249 or e-mail info@dentaid.org

Injury research and prevention in Cardiff

The Wound Healing Research Group at Cardiff's School of Dentistry has recently been awarded a Welsh Development Agency Centre of Excellence Award.

Above picture shows Dr Thomas (back left) with some of the Group Dr Phil Stephens, Ivan Wall, Dr Ryan Moseley Dr Phil Stephens Dr Katja Hill Amanda Stiltz, Front left Dr Jo Hilton, Dr Jo Stewart, Fiona Ruge and Charlotte Davies.

The CETIC award was in recognition of the wound healing research performed both clinically in the Wound Healing Research Unit and in the Wound Biology Group. The award was to appoint and support the activity of the group, for instance, to faciltate developments of new technologies and links with industry.

The group went from strength to strength in 2001 and now includes 12 researchers under the leadership of David Thomas.

Jonathan Shepherd, professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the dental school recently spoke at the Centres for Disease Control and prevention in Atlanta where he described the multiagency violence prevention initiative in Cardiff. This initiative has been replicated in many towns and cities and is cited in the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act.

This initiative is based on two major research findings; first that the orofacial region is the most frequent 'target' in most violence and second, that a substantial proportion of assaults which result in injury requiring treatment do not appear in official police records.

High mercury levels blamed on dentists

Water companies say that most of the mercury in the water system is from dentists and it is unfair that they should foot the bill. With the majority of UK dentists still using the amalgam restorations, when patients are asked to rinse their mouths out, tiny pieces of mercury are flushed down the drains. Trace amounts of mercury remain uncollected in sewage works and are discharged straight into rivers.

New EU legislation says the levels of such toxic substances must be reduced. This prospect has induced mild panic among water companies who say that they should not be responsible for cleaning mercury out of water. The proposed EU directives could force them to install expensive new equipment to remove the contaminates, since their discharge pipes will be held to be the source of the pollutants.

Rupert Kruger, an environment and scientific advisor for Water UK, the trade organisation of the water companies, said, 'We do not want to drive people out of business, but we do want them to modify the way they make or use things so we do not get landed with cleaning up the mess'.

New modular MSc in General Dental Practice commences in Birmingham

The first intake of eight students, for the new modular part-time MSc in General Dental Practice have just completed their first module of study. This Masters degree is designed specifically for dentists working in primary dental care. It is expected that the students will normally attend the University of Birmingham School of Dentistry for one day per week over a five year period, although it will be possible to complete the course in a shorter period through undertaking additional sessions. The course has an initial stage of five core modules, on completion of which the student will have acquired 60 credits (where one credit equals 10 hours of learning). At this stage the students will be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in General Dental Practice. by undertaking a further six modules, selected from the ten clinically focused optional modules, the student will achieve a further 60 credits leading to the award of a Postgraduate Diploma in General Dental Practice. This is then converted to a Masters degree by completion of two MGDS-style log diaries and a practice orientated research project. The course has been tailored to the interests and needs of general dental practitioners and dentists working in the community dental service.

Caption for illustration (left to right): Drs., Ali James, Simon Portman-Lewis, Alison Thornley, David Pal, Professor Peter Marquis, David Tait, Elizabeth Cox, Jaswinder Bardha, Matthias Billing

For further information contact the Course Director, Professor Trevor Burke at the University of Birmingham School of Dentistry (email:f.j.t.burke@bham.ac.uk).

Electronic referrals pilot goes live...

Three dental surgeries in the Morecambe Bay area went live in December on the NHSnet and are now able to give their patients an appointment with the local Maxillofacial Unit while the patient is still in the chair.

As part of the Governments' commitment to make it easier for patients to get referrals to hospital the Booked Admission System (BAS) has been developed across the country in a number of specialities such as endoscopy, rheumatology and gynaecology, but this is the first time it has been developed in dentistry. Dentists can book their patients directly onto a consultant clinic via the NHSnet or onto a daycase list for routine minor oral surgery procedures. Patients leave the practice with an appointment for the next available consultant clinic and pre-operative information if surgery is planned.

In Morecambe Bay funding was provided by North West Regional Health Authority and then the scheme was presented to the local dental committee, who selected the three practices – Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Furness General Hospital and Westmorland General Hospital. Referral protocols were developed by Peter Dyer, Consultant in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery for Morecombe Bay Hospitals Trust in conjunction with the participating practices covering the surgical removal of difficult teeth and roots, third molars, periapical pathology, oral cancer, facial swellings, salivary gland pathology and temporomandibular joint pain. It is hoped that all the practices in Morecambe Bay will be linked to the Maxillofacial Unit as the electronic referral programme is rolled out. Peter Dyer says that such a scheme could become national following the trial run currently being developed.