口腔数字化技术进修教学模式的探索和应用

数字化技术在口腔临床和科研中的应用日益广泛,但目前国内针对口腔数字化技术的本科和研究生教学尚未普及,毕业后教育的需求较大。北京大学口腔医学院在既往多年口腔数字化技术教学的实践基础上,初步探索了一套理论教学和实践教学相结合的三阶段渐进式口腔数字化技术进修教学模式,并结合个性化的进修培养方案,实现以临床和科研为导向的高水平口腔数字化软、硬件应用能力骨干人才培养。该进修培养模式在一定程度上弥补了国内口腔数字化技术进修教育领域的空白,是我国口腔数字化技术专业人才多元化培养的有益探索,有助于推动我国口腔数字化技术临床应用和科研的发展。     

CAD/CAM ceramic restorations in the operatory and laboratory

Computer assisted design/computer assisted machining (CAD/CAM) technology has received considerable clinical and research interest from modern dental practices as a means of delivering all-ceramic restorations. The CEREC, System offers CAD/CAM dental technology designed for clinical use by dentists, as well as a separate system designed for dental laboratory technicians. The CEREC 3 system is indicated for dental operatory applications, and the CEREC inLab, system is indicated for dental laboratory applications. Although both systems rely on similar CAD/CAM technology, several significant differences exist in the processing techniques involved, restorative materials used, and types of restoration provided.     

Will there be a shortage of dental auxiliaries in the future?

The number of graduates from dental hygiene programs continues to increase, but retention of dental hygienists in practices is a concern. The numbers of graduates from dental assisting and especially dental laboratory technology programs are decreasing. The impact on dental practice size and practice productivity is considered.     

Dental nursing education and the introduction of technology‐assisted learning

The aim of this paper is to explore the profile of dental nursing students in the National Dental Nurse Training Programme of Ireland and their adjustment to a technology‐assisted learning environment. Evaluation by students of the course and their reactions to the course were analysed. Dental nurses must possess the skills and knowledge to proficiently function in the modern day dental surgery. The implementation of a dental nurse programme that is heavily reliant on technology has started to create a group of dental nurses equipped with basic skills to access and retrieve information over a lifetime. However, the transition to a technology‐assisted learning environment including online learning activities requires adaptation and expertise by educators and students alike. Careful evaluation and stakeholder feedback is imperative in the creation and maintaining of a quality programme. In conclusion, the students in this study responded well to the transition to a technology‐based learning environment. Furthermore, the findings of this study suggest that the use of an online environment is an effective and stimulating learning environment for the students of a dental nurse programme; however, familiarity skills and knowledge of information technology is a prerequisite for success.     

A look at allied dental education in the United States

BACKGROUND: The American Dental Association conducts surveys of educational programs in dental assisting, dental hygiene and dental laboratory technology. The 2002-2003 survey included questions about enrollment, graduates, program information and trends. METHODS: The ADA Survey Center mailed the Survey of Allied Dental Education to 548 program directors of dental assisting, dental hygiene and dental laboratory technology educational programs. They also sent several follow-up notices as a reminder to complete the survey. A 100 percent response rate is mandatory for continued accreditation by the Commission on Dental Accreditation. Association staff members resolved inconsistencies in the data and analyzed them before producing a final report. RESULTS: The number of applications to, first-year enrollment in and number of graduates in dental hygiene and dental assisting educational programs have increased during the last five years. During the same period, the number of applications to, and graduates of, dental laboratory technology educational programs decreased, but first-year enrollment increased slightly. CONCLUSIONS: Results from these surveys help address the concerns of the public and the profession regarding allied dental manpower levels. They also provide information for those interested in applying to individual allied dental educational programs. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Private dental practices employ the majority of graduates of allied dental educational programs. Recent graduates of dental assisting and hygiene programs continue to supply the office staff members needed to support the delivery of dental care.     

Trends in allied dental education: an analysis of the past and a look to the future.

Allied dental healthcare providers have been an integral part of the dental team since the turn of the 19th century. Like dental education, allied dental education's history includes a transition from apprenticeships and proprietary school settings to dental schools and community and technical colleges. There are currently 258 dental assisting programs, 255 dental hygiene programs, and 28 dental laboratory technology programs according to the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation. First-year enrollment increased 9.5 percent in dental hygiene education from 1994/95 to 1998/99, while enrollment in dental assisting programs declined 7 percent and declined 31 percent in dental laboratory technology programs during the same period. Program capacity exceeds enrollment in all three areas of allied dental education. Challenges facing allied dental education include addressing the dental practicing community's perception of a shortage of dental assistants and dental hygienists and increasing pressure for career tracks that do not require education in ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation accredited programs. The allied dental workforce may also be called upon for innovative approaches to improve access to oral health care and reduce oral health care disparities. In addition, allied dental education programs may face challenges in recruiting faculty with the desired academic credentials. ADEA is currently pursuing initiatives in these and other areas to address the current and emerging needs of allied dental education.     

Capabilities of computerized clinical decision support systems: the implications for the practicing dental professional

This article presents the use of captured data within the range of patient care activities of the dental practitioner with an emphasis on prosthodontic activities. It describes the use of computer technology in dentistry during a typical patient encounter in a dental care facility. The oral health record, the need for speech recognition technology, and existing documentation software are discussed. Ongoing development of the capabilities of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems is becoming an important part of the oral health setting; including systems applicable to prosthodontics. These systems all rely on a common standardized structure for the electronic (oral) health record (EHR/EOHR). Current developments in radiological technology and digital imaging are explained as well as fundamentals of decision support systems clarified. Recent developments in the representation of domain knowledge as well as the implementation of a dental nomenclature and metathesaurus are also presented. A quality matrix identifies target values for dental informatics while demonstrating an "importance-weighting" of dental characteristics.     

The professions of dentistry and dental laboratory technology: improving the interface

BACKGROUND: Dentistry's mission to provide rehabilitation services to patients who experienced dental disease is being jeopardized through the continual reduction of critical to quality skills and knowledge in dental laboratory technology being offered in dental and dental laboratory technician education. These reductions are creating a shortage of knowledgeable dentists and dental laboratory technicians who will be needed to address the projected public demand for laboratory-fabricated tooth replacements and restorations. METHODS: Demographic trend analysis supports a hypothesis that without immediate action by dentistry, substantial patient needs will not be met owing to inadequate levels of dental laboratory support for general dentists. RESULTS: The sophistication of laboratory-based rehabilitative and elective therapies demand closer cooperation between dentists and dental laboratory technologists. CONCLUSIONS: Dentistry must not abdicate its responsibilities in dental technology as it pursues a path away from rehabilitation services toward a projected future of prevention services. With decreasing educational exposure and training in dental laboratory procedures, dentists will have difficulty participating with dental laboratory technologists to fabricate laboratory-based rehabilitative and elective therapies. Without significant guidance from dental professionals in establishing laboratory standards in both education and practice, proprietary interests and commercial biases may set the laboratory and clinical standards of the future. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Dentists will have limited experience or background to evaluate the dental laboratory technology offered in the marketplace and will be subject to the marketing of the industry. A shortage of educationally trained dental laboratory technologists will create a clinical and an economic burden on both dentists and patients.     

New technology for the removal of corundum residues on dental implants

Surface modification is an important measure to improve dental implants. Corundum residues, which are part of current dental implant blasting, on Straumann dental implants, were found to have disappeared in recent publications. We further evaluated this new cleaning technology by evaluating the surface of four different Straumann implants using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive radiographic spectroscopy (EDX). The involved technology fits to a Straumann patent involving a dextran coating allowing easy corundum particle removal by aqueous solution.     

Ergonomic considerations for the care of special patients.

Ergonomics is an applied science concerned with the design of products that improve the way in which people and technology interface. The applications to dentistry are numerous given the fact that modern dental care is a complex blend of human skills and sophisticated technology. This article explores the impact of ergonomic principles on dental care for the special and physically challenged patient.     

Two new clinical/laboratory protocols for CAD/CAM implant restorations

BACKGROUND: Conventional casting technology has some disadvantages for dental laboratory technicians and restorative dentists, including porosity of restorations, miscasting and inaccuracy. It also is labor-intensive. Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology was developed in the late 1980s for dentistry, and it significantly reduced and/or eliminated problems associated with dental castings. The purpose of this article is to give readers an overview of the use of CAD/CAM technology for dental implants and illustrate two clinical protocols for that use. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The CAD/CAM technology described in this article can reduce restorative dentists' chairside time associated with implant treatment in both edentulous and partially edentulous patients, can decrease costs without sacrificing accuracy or biocompatibility for both clinicians and dental laboratory technicians, and is available to dental laboratories without the capital expenses associated with purchasing new technology.     

虚拟现实技术在牙种植领域的应用与发展前景

虚拟现实(VR)技术是一门涉及多领域高端发展成果的新兴学科。VR在医学的应用是现代医学发展的方向之一,是目前世界范围内的研究热点。口腔种植学作为20世纪60年代来口腔修复领域发展最迅速的学科,亦是以多学科先进研究成果的交叉应用为其主要特征。本文对VR技术在牙种植领域的应用与发展前景进行综述。     

Use of simulation technology in dental education.

Simulation is becoming very beneficial in the area of health care education. Dentistry has used various types of simulation in preclinical education for some time. This article discusses the impact of the current simulation laboratories on dental education and reviews advanced technology simulation that has recently become available or is in the developmental stage. The abilities of advanced technology simulation, its advantages and disadvantages, and its potential to affect dental education are addressed.     

Ethics and the electronic health record in dental school clinics

Electronic health records (EHRs) are a major development in the practice of dentistry, and dental schools and dental curricula have benefitted from this technology. Patient data entry, storage, retrieval, transmission, and archiving have been streamlined, and the potential for teledentistry and improvement in epidemiological research is beginning to be realized. However, maintaining patient health information in an electronic form has also changed the environment in dental education, setting up potential ethical dilemmas for students and faculty members. The purpose of this article is to explore some of the ethical issues related to EHRs, the advantages and concerns related to the use of computers in the dental operatory, the impact of the EHR on the doctor-patient relationship, the introduction of web-based EHRs, the link between technology and ethics, and potential solutions for the management of ethical concerns related to EHRs in dental schools.     

微流控芯片在口腔医学领域的应用研究进展

微流控芯片是指通过微细加工技术将微型功能元件组建成具有微流体控制的集成分析系统，在生命科学领域已开始广泛使用，在口腔医学领域目前应用较少。文章结合微流控芯片技术的优势，综述微流控芯片在口腔医学领域中的研究进展，并对其应用前景进行展望。     

Optical coherence tomography: a new imaging technology for dentistry

BACKGROUND: Optical coherence tomography, or OCT, is a new diagnostic imaging technique that has many potential dental applications. The authors present the first intraoral dental images made using this technology. METHODS: The authors constructed a prototype dental OCT system. This system creates cross-sectional images by quantifying the reflections of infrared light from dental structures interferometrically. RESULTS: We used our prototype system to make dental OTC images of healthy adults in a clinical setting. These OCT images depicted both hard and soft oral tissues at high resolution. CONCLUSIONS: OCT images exhibit microstructural detail that cannot be obtained with current imaging modalities. Using this new technology, visual recordings of periodontal tissue contour, secular depth and connective tissue attachment now are possible. The internal aspects and marginal adaptation of porcelain and composite restorations can be visualized. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: There are several advantages of OCT compared with conventional dental imaging. This new imaging technology is safe, versatile, inexpensive and readily adapted to a clinical dental environment.     

The design team

With implants emerging as a major field in dental technology, new demands are increasing, and different management procedures are required in the dental laboratory. This article focuses on one laboratory, and how it is successfully managing these demands by the dental profession for root-form restorations.     

基因芯片技术在牙髓生物学研究中的应用进展

基因芯片作为一种高通量、快速和平行核酸序列测定及定量分析技术已经广泛地应用于分子生物学领域。牙髓基因组学的研究将有利于加强人们对牙髓生理和病理机制的认识,从而最终应用于临床预防、诊断和治疗等,因此,本文就基因芯片技术及其与牙髓干细胞相关的基因、牙髓老龄化改变相关的基因和龋病时牙髓相关的基因等研究进展作一综述。     

A comparison of fixed prostheses generated from conventional vs digitally scanned dental impressions

For many years, mechanical and laser-based scanning technology has been used with computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing applications in the field of dentistry, but most have been limited to the dental laboratory. For the past 20 years, only 1 intraoral scanning device has been available to the dentist for in-office use. Recently, a new kind of intraoral scanning technology was introduced to the dental market. This technology, based on a laser scanning protocol called "parallel confocal," allows the dentist to take electronic impressions intraorally. This technology is coupled with traditional laboratory protocol for the construction of fixed dental restorations, providing the dentist with an accurate and efficient system to produce high-quality fixed dental restorations of all types. In a blind study, crowns developed using this technology were preferred over crowns generated using conventional impressions and criteria of marginal fit, contacts, occlusion, and time of adjustment in nearly 70% of cases. This article introduces scanning technology including a discussion of its clinical applications and an overview of the benefits.     

Implications of technology assessment and diffusion for dental research.

The possible implications of the assessment and diffusion of technology for dental research are explored in two areas: prevention of dental caries and prevention of periodontal disease. Future concepts and their potential alternatives for the profession, the public, and government agencies are examined in terms of the social, economic, and political aspects of dental health care delivery. Consideration is given to their impact on industry and education.