Dental caries experience in the Australian adult population

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association (18th Jan 2007). An external link to the publisher’s copy is included

Profile of oral health students over a ten year period and their practice intentions after graduation

Published: January 26, 2017Objective: Limited research has been published on oral health therapists, particularly Australian cohorts of Bachelor of Oral Health (BOH) students who will graduate as oral health therapists. Aside from selection criteria and sample characteristics of students from some institutions, little is known about factors influencing career choice and career aspirations and workplace intentions after graduation. This study describes the characteristics, career choice factors and career aspirations of first year students enrolled at the University of Adelaide between 2005 and 2014. Methods: All first year cohorts (2005-2014) completed a self-report questionnaire as part of coursework. Demographic data, socio-economic status, career choice influences and graduate aspirations were collected and analysed. Kruskal –Wallis Tests were conducted on each variable with the cohort years. Results: Completed questionnaires suitable for analyses were received from 269 students (response rate 86%). Most students were under 21 years, in their preferred program and attended non-government schools. Males entering the profession increased. Career choice factors reflected those of other studies. The desire to work in the public sector declined after the first year of graduation with most reporting the private sector the workplace of choice after five and ten years. The stated intention of pursuing an academic career did not change and most reported the possibility of undertaking future postgraduate study. Conclusion: Working conditions and lifestyle factors have become increasing important and a growing number of males are entering the profession. Monitoring profile variations between BOH student cohorts overtime is important for program selection, recruitment and labourforce planning. If the trend continues for BOH students wanting to ultimately work in the private sector, access to care could be affected for particular population groups.Suzanne Gardner, and Kaye Roberts-Thomso

Access to dental care by young South Australian adults

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association (9th Jan 2008). An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Background: Despite reported concern over the dental care of young adults little research has been done on their use of dental services in Australia. The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns of dental utilization of young South Australian adults aged 20-24 years. Methods: A random sample of 2300 young adults was selected from the electoral roll. Partial or complete addresses and possible phone numbers were obtained for 1921 persons. Telephone interviews were conducted for 1261 subjects to obtain information on socio- demographics, health behaviour and dental visiting (response rate 65.6 per cent). Results: One third of young adults (34 per cent) had not made a dental visit in the previous two years and 38 per cent usually visited for a problem rather than a check-up. Making a dental visit in the last two years was significantly associated with a number of socio- demographic variables including age and gender, with holders of private dental insurance and those who have not avoided care because of cost having higher odds of making a visit and males and government concession card holders having lower odds of visiting. Usual reason for visiting a dentist for a problem was significantly associated with no private dental insurance, holding a government concession card, no tertiary education and avoiding care because of cost. Conclusions: This study suggests that demographic and economic factors influenced use of dental services and reason for visiting of young South Australian adults.KF Roberts-Thomson, JF Stewar

Dental general anaesthetic trends among Australian children

BackgroundChildren receive dental general anaesthetic (DGA) care when standard dental treatment is not possible. Receipt of DGA care is resource-intensive and not without risk. This study examines trends in receipt of DGA care among Australian children.MethodsChild DGA data were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Hospital Morbidity Database for 1993-2004. Poisson regression modelling was used to examine DGA rates in relation to age, sex, Indigenous status, location, year and procedure.ResultsThere was a 3-fold increase in DGA rates from 1993-1994 (215.8 +/- 2.9 per 100,000) to 2003-2004 (731.4 +/- 5.3 per 100,000) (P ConclusionChild DGA rates in Australia are increasing. Children who are pre-school-aged, male, Indigenous or living in a rural/remote location are disproportionally represented among those receiving such care. There are higher rates of extractions as opposed to more conservative procedures, particularly among Indigenous children.Lisa M Jamieson and Kaye F Roberts-Thomso

Anomalous translational velocity of vortex ring with finite-amplitude Kelvin waves

We consider finite-amplitude Kelvin waves on an inviscid vortex assuming that the vortex core has infinitesimal thickness. By numerically solving the governing Biot-Savart equation of motion, we study how the frequency of the Kelvin waves and the velocity of the perturbed ring depend on the Kelvin wave amplitude. In particular, we show that, if the amplitude of the Kelvin waves is sufficiently large, the perturbed vortex ring moves backwards.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, v2: minor changes, v3: typos correcte

Self-efficacy and self-rated oral health among pregnant aboriginal Australian women

Published: 2 April 2014BACKGROUND: Self-efficacy plays an important role in oral health-related behaviours. There is little known about associations between self-efficacy and subjective oral health among populations at heightened risk of dental disease. This study aimed to determine if low self-efficacy was associated with poor self-rated oral health after adjusting for confounding among a convenience sample of pregnant women. METHODS: We used self-reported data from 446 Australian women pregnant with an Aboriginal child (age range 14-43 years) to evaluate self-rated oral health, self-efficacy and socio-demographic, psychosocial, social cognitive and risk factors. Hierarchical entry of explanatory variables into logistic regression models estimated prevalence odds ratios (POR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for fair or poor self-rated oral health. RESULTS: In an unadjusted model, those with low self-efficacy had 2.40 times the odds of rating their oral health as 'fair' or 'poor' (95% CI 1.54-3.74). Addition of socio-demographic factors attenuated the effect of low self-efficacy on poor self-rated oral health by 10 percent (POR 2.19, 95% CI 1.37-3.51). Addition of the psychosocial factors attenuated the odds by 17 percent (POR 2.07, 95% CI 1.28-3.36), while addition of the social cognitive variable fatalism increased the odds by 1 percent (POR 2.42, 95% CI 1.55-3.78). Inclusion of the behavioural risk factor 'not brushing previous day' attenuated the odds by 15 percent (POR 2.11, 95%CI 1.32-3.36). In the final model, which included all covariates, the odds were attenuated by 32 percent (POR 1.80, 95% CI 1.05, 3.08). CONCLUSIONS: Low self-efficacy persisted as a risk indicator for poor self-rated oral health after adjusting for confounding among this vulnerable population.Lisa M Jamieson, Eleanor J Parker, Kaye F Roberts-Thomson, Herenia P Lawrence and John Broughto

A Measurement of Time-Averaged Aerosol Optical Depth using Air-Showers Observed in Stereo by HiRes

Air fluorescence measurements of cosmic ray energy must be corrected for attenuation of the atmosphere. In this paper we show that the air-showers themselves can yield a measurement of the aerosol attenuation in terms of optical depth, time-averaged over extended periods. Although the technique lacks statistical power to make the critical hourly measurements that only specialized active instruments can achieve, we note the technique does not depend on absolute calibration of the detector hardware, and requires no additional equipment beyond the fluorescence detectors that observe the air showers. This paper describes the technique, and presents results based on analysis of 1258 air-showers observed in stereo by the High Resolution Fly's Eye over a four year span.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication by Astroparticle Physics Journa

Effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of a single annual professional intervention for the prevention of childhood dental caries in a remote rural Indigenous community

Background The aim of the study is to reduce the high prevalence of tooth decay in children in a remote, rural Indigenous community in Australia, by application of a single annual dental preventive intervention. The study seeks to (1) assess the effectiveness of an annual oral health preventive intervention in slowing the incidence of dental caries in children in this community, (2) identify the mediating role of known risk factors for dental caries and (3) assess the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of the intervention. Methods/design The intervention is novel in that most dental preventive interventions require regular re-application, which is not possible in resource constrained communities. While tooth decay is preventable, self-care and healthy habits are lacking in these communities, placing more emphasis on health services to deliver an effective dental preventive intervention. Importantly, the study will assess cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness for broader implementation across similar communities in Australia and internationally. Discussion There is an urgent need to reduce the burden of dental decay in these communities, by implementing effective, cost-effective, feasible and sustainable dental prevention programs. Expected outcomes of this study include improved oral and general health of children within the community; an understanding of the costs associated with the intervention provided, and its comparison with the costs of allowing new lesions to develop, with associated treatment costs. Findings should be generalisable to similar communities around the world. The research is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR), registration number ACTRN12615000693527; date of registration: 3rd July 2015

Ground-state Spectrum of Light-quark Mesons

A confining, Goldstone theorem preserving, separable Ansatz for the ladder kernel of the two-body Bethe-Salpeter equation is constructed from phenomenologically efficacious $u$, $d$ and $s$ dressed-quark propagators. The simplicity of the approach is its merit. It provides a good description of the ground-state isovector-pseudoscalar, vector and axial-vector meson spectrum; facilitates an exploration of the relative importance of various components of the two-body Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes, showing that sub-leading Dirac components are quantitatively important in the isovector-pseudoscalar meson channels; and allows a scrutiny of the domain of applicability of ladder truncation studies. A colour-antitriplet diquark spectrum is obtained. Shortcomings of separable Ans\"atze and the ladder kernel are highlighted.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX/REVTEX 3.0, no figure