British dental journal
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British dental journal · Apr 2021
Does prevention-focused dental care provision during recruit training reduce adverse dental outcomes in UK Armed Forces personnel? A retrospective cohort analysis.
Background Dental emergencies experienced during military operations may render individuals unable to operate effectively. To minimise this risk, UK Armed Forces (UKAF) recruits receive a prevention-focused dental care intervention during military training (known as 'Project MOLAR') before their entry to the trained strength of the Armed Forces. Aim To evaluate whether Project MOLAR is effective in preventing future dental emergency events and subsequent oral disease in UKAF recruits. ⋯ The total follow-up time for the cohort was 31,957 person-years (mean follow-up 4.3 years/recruit). Individuals whose treatment was completed under Project MOLAR were found to experience a 30% reduction in dental emergency incidence (RR: 0.70-95% CI: 0.63-0.76) (p <0.001) and a 64% reduction in the odds of DMFT increase at 18 months (OR: 0.36-95% CI: 0.28-0.47) (p <0.001) compared to individuals whose treatment was incomplete. Conclusions Defence dentistry's focus on delivering prevention-focused dentistry early in a recruit's military career confers a downstream benefit to personnel who complete the intervention, such that dental emergency occurrences and DMFT progression are significantly reduced.
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Introduction The United Kingdom (UK) left the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020. Brexit will impact many sectors of the economy, including the dental sector. ⋯ In both an FTA and a 'no-deal scenario', with EU law no longer applicable to the UK, more innovative policy in the area of tobacco control could be developed. An FTA could exacerbate existing workforce shortages and would likely cause a reduction in EU research funding, as well as posing issues with data transfers, with these all likely to be more severe under a no-deal scenario.
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British dental journal · Sep 2020
Unmasking the hidden pandemic: sustainability in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen disruptions to almost all aspects of society, and the environment will not be left unaffected. With increased personal protective equipment (PPE) provisions in dental settings, plastic consumption and disposal are likely to increase significantly. ⋯ Learning from natural disaster management approaches and past crises, we must align our short-term goals of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic with our long-term vision for environmentally conscious action. Sustainable activity will underpin a successful response to our current health crisis.