This clinically oriented book presents the state of the art in e-health care within dentistry and oral medicine (?e-oral health?) with the aim of acquainting dentists and other oral health care professionals with its uses and advantages, especially with regard to diagnosis. It will assist all who wish to learn about teledentistry protocols and the e-oral health branch or to implement e-oral health solutions and procedures in clinical practice. The book opens by discussing general aspects of e-oral health, including tools, networks, and the very important ethical considerations. The use and specific benefits of e-oral health technologies in the diagnosis of different conditions, orthodontic assessment, implantology evaluation, and caries prevention are then fully explained. Finally, examples are provided of the ways in which teledentistry functions in different countries on different continents. e-Oral health is a burgeoning field that encompasses teledentistry as well as other uses of information and communication technologies for oral health care purposes. This book will be an ideal guide for not only dentists but also dental hygienists, dental nurses, and other professionals.

This clinically oriented book presents the state of the art in e-health care within dentistry and oral medicine (“e-oral health”) with the aim of acquainting dentists and other oral health care professionals with its uses and advantages, especially with regard to diagnosis. It will assist all who wish to learn about teledentistry protocols and the e-oral health branch or to implement e-oral health solutions and procedures in clinical practice. The book opens by discussing general aspects of e-oral health, including tools, networks, and the very important ethical considerations. The use and specific benefits of e-oral health technologies in the diagnosis of different conditions, orthodontic assessment, implantology evaluation, and caries prevention are then fully explained. Finally, examples are provided of the ways in which teledentistry functions in different countries on different continents. e-Oral health is a burgeoning field that encompasses teledentistry as well as other uses of information and communication technologies for oral health care purposes. This book will be an ideal guide for not only dentists but also dental hygienists, dental nurses, and other professionals.

Though it is highly preventable, tooth decay is a common chronic disease both in the United States and worldwide. Evidence shows that decay and other oral diseases may be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. However, individuals and many health care professionals remain unaware of the risk factors and preventive approaches for many oral diseases. They do not fully appreciate how oral health affects overall health and well-being. In Advancing Oral Health in America, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) highlights the vital role that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can play in improving oral health and oral health care in the United States. The IOM recommends that HHS design an oral health initiative which has clearly articulated goals, is coordinated effectively, adequately funded and has high-level accountability. In addition, the IOM stresses three key areas needed for successfully maintaining oral health as a priority issue: strong leadership, sustained interest, and the involvement of multiple stakeholders from both the public and private sectors. Advancing Oral Health in America provides practical recommendations that the Department of Health and Human Services can use to improve oral health care in America. The report will serve as a vital resource for federal health agencies, health care professionals, policy makers, researchers, and public and private health organizations.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Roundtable on Health Literacy focuses on bringing together leaders from the federal government, foundations, health plans, associations, and private companies to address challenges facing health literacy practice and research and to identify approaches to promote health literacy in both the public and private sectors. The roundtable serves to educate the public, press, and policy makers regarding the issues of health literacy, sponsoring workshops to discuss approaches to resolve health literacy challenges. It also builds partnerships to move the field of health literacy forward by translating research findings into practical strategies for implementation. The Roundtable held a workshop March 29, 2012, to explore the field of oral health literacy. The workshop was organized by an independent planning committee in accordance with the procedures of the National Academy of Sciences. The planning group was composed of Sharon Barrett, Benard P. Dreyer, Alice M. Horowitz, Clarence Pearson, and Rima Rudd. The role of the workshop planning committee was limited to planning the workshop. Unlike a consensus committee report, a workshop summary may not contain conclusions and recommendations, except as expressed by and attributed to individual presenters and participants. Therefore, the summary has been prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.

This book is an up-to-date guide to the diagnosis and management of the oral and orofacial conditions that may be encountered by dentists in primary care. Now in its fourth edition, the book has been completely restructured to provide a clinical signs and symptoms approach to disease that will enhance the ability of clinicians to establish the correct diagnosis. This is achieved by the lavish use of high-quality colour clinical illustrations that cover the full spectrum of conditions seen most frequently in the dental surgery. In addition, contemporary information on patient management is presented in a clear and reader-friendly style. The book provides the clinician with an extremely useful tool for clinical diagnosis and delivery of the highest quality patient care. The contents are of direct relevance to all members of the dental team, not only in general practice but also in specialist settings.

Access to oral health services is a problem for all segments of the U.S. population, and especially problematic for vulnerable populations, such as rural and underserved populations. The many challenges to improving access to oral health services include the lack of coordination and integration among the oral health, public health, and medical health care systems; misaligned payment and education systems that focus on the treatment of dental disease rather than prevention; the lack of a robust evidence base for many dental procedures and workforce models; and regulatory barriers that prevent the exploration of alternative models of care. This volume, the summary of a three-day workshop, evaluates the sufficiency of the U.S. oral health workforce to consider three key questions: What is the current status of access to oral health services for the U.S. population? What workforce strategies hold promise to improve access to oral health services? How can policy makers, state and federal governments, and oral health care providers and practitioners improve the regulations and structure of the oral health care system to improve access to oral health services?

This book informs readers of the needs and rationale for the integration of medical and dental care and information with an international perspective as to how and where medical and dental care separated into specific domains. It provide high level guidance on issues involved with care and data integration and how to achieve an integrated model of health care supported by integrated HIT. A patient typically expects that a visit to a dentist can usually be resolved immediately. This expectation places a premium on instant, accurate, thorough, and current information. The state-of-the-art of fully integrated (dental-medical) electronic health record (EHR) is covered and this is contrasted with the current state of dental-medical software. While dentists in the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the US Indian Health Service (IHS), or the US military, for example, have access to fully integrated health records, most US clinicians still gather information from separate sources via fax or phone calls. The authors provide an in-depth discussion of the role of informatics and information science in the articulation of medical and dental practices and clinical data with the focus on applied clinical informatics to improve quality of care, practice efficiency, coordination and continuity of care, communication between physicians and dentists and to provide a more comprehensive care for the patients. Lastly, the book examines advances in medical and dental research and how these may affect dentistry in the future. Most new advances in healthcare research are information-intensive.

Oral diseases affect about 3.5 billion people around the world. As well as impacting health, they also affect overall well-being and quality of life, especially where resources for prevention, diagnosis and treatment are limited. Approaches based on new digital health technologies can contribute to better oral health for all. In the context of the Be He@lthy Be Mobile initiative, the World Health Organization and the International Telecommunication Union have developed "Mobile technologies for oral health: an implementation guide." This new resource provides guidance on promoting oral health, training health workers, detecting oral health conditions, collecting epidemiological data, and monitoring the quality of patient care, all through mobile technologies. It will help countries develop and implement mOralHealth programmes to complement existing oral health programmes. The handbook is intended to assist policy- and decision-makers and implementers to realize a national or large-scale mOralHealth programme.

Access to oral health care is essential to promoting and maintaining overall health and well-being, yet only half of the population visits a dentist each year. Poor and minority children are less likely to have access to oral health care than are their nonpoor and nonminority peers. Older adults, people who live in rural areas, and disabled individuals, uniformly confront access barriers, regardless of their financial resources. The consequences of these disparities in access to oral health care can lead to a number of conditions including malnutrition, childhood speech problems, infections, diabetes, heart disease, and premature births. Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations examines the scope and consequences of inadequate access to oral health services in the United States and recommends ways to combat the economic, structural, geographic, and cultural factors that prevent access to regular, quality care. The report suggests changing funding and reimbursement for dental care; expanding the oral health work force by training doctors, nurses, and other nondental professionals to recognize risk for oral diseases; and revamping regulatory, educational, and administrative practices. It also recommends changes to incorporate oral health care into overall health care. These recommendations support the creation of a diverse workforce that is competent, compensated, and authorized to serve vulnerable and underserved populations across the life cycle. The recommendations provided in Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations will help direct the efforts of federal, state, and local government agencies; policy makers; health professionals in all fields; private and public health organizations; licensing and accreditation bodies; educational institutions; health care researchers; and philanthropic and advocacy organizations.

ABSTRACT: Helping patients achieve an optimal quality of life through patient-centered treatment planning should be the ultimate goal of all oral health care providers. However, this issue extends beyond the realm of the individual clinician's office. This text presents quality-of-life research from various fields, including psychology, public health, and general health care; discusses how a patient-centered approach can be applied to basic oral and craniofacial research, clinical dental practice, community dental health issues, and dental education; and addresses how oral health-related quality of life relates to treating and understanding different patient populations, such as children with special needs, medically compromised patients, patients with oral cancer, and patients with chronic facial pain. Also discussed is how factors such as race/ethnicity, gender, and age can affect oral health-related quality-of-life concerns and treatment strategies. Finally, the book offers an outlook on the role that oral health-related quality of life will play in future research and dental education.