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H E Fyffe

Publications and source records attributed to H E Fyffe.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A profile of dentists working in the general and community dental services in Scotland in 1987.

A questionnaire was sent to a list of what was considered to be all (1726) practitioners in the General Dental Service (GDS) and Community Dental Service (CDS) in Scotland. The overall response rate was 72%. A comparison of certain characteristics of the respondents with those of the entire group of dentists who were sent questionnaires suggested that the respondents comprised an acceptable cross-section. Proportionally more females worked in the CDS than in the GDS and many of the differences between the general characteristics of practitioners in the two services appeared to reflect differences which are known to exist between the career patterns of male and female dental practitioners. Most respondents (84.7%) claimed to have attended a post-graduate course within the last 5 years, although only 33.4% claimed to have attended more than one course per year. Over three-quarters of the respondents (76.0%) claimed that they belonged to a professional society, whilst 98.5% stated that they regularly read a professional journal or practice newspaper of some description.

Community Dentistry↗

Origin, training, and subsequent practice location of Scotland's General and Community dentists.

In view of the continuing concern, in the United Kingdom (UK) and many other countries, over the maldistribution of dental manpower and the far-reaching plans now being contemplated to correct existing imbalances, it was felt to be necessary to document the current situation in Scotland. This study set out to identify the origins, place of training, and subsequent practice locations of Scotland's General and Community dentists. A questionnaire was sent to a list of all General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) and Clinical Community Dental Officers (CCDOs) in Scotland. The final response rate was 72%. 85% of respondents had received the majority of their secondary school education in Scotland, and a total of 92.5% of respondents had received their undergraduate dental training at one of the three Scottish dental schools. Factors elicited as being associated with practice location choice included school of dental training, location of a dentist's original home and relatives, and, to some extent, market forces in terms of "demand for dentists" in some areas in Scotland.

Community Dentistry↗

The effect of varying diagnostic thresholds upon clinical caries data for a low prevalence group.

This study investigated the impact of employing differing diagnostic thresholds on clinical caries data in studies of groups with low caries prevalence. Data from clinical examinations of 287 Hong Kong dental students were analyzed by means of the CARIES microcomputer software package. This software allows for re-calculation of raw data according to three different diagnostic thresholds (D3, D2, and D1). When "enamel" and "initial" lesions (as defined by WHO criteria) were included in the calculation of DMFT, its value increased from 3.0 (D3) to 5.9 (D1), while the percentage of individuals considered "caries-free" decreased from 28.2% to 7.0%. Little change was found in the magnitude of the intra-examiner reproducibility, when calculated at each threshold, for a random 10% of the subjects. It was unfortunately not possible to calculate inter-examiner reproducibility in this study. The use of criteria which might be misinterpreted as being similar, but which use differing effective diagnostic thresholds, can dramatically influence the reported level of dental caries. In view of these findings, it may be necessary for the question of diagnostic thresholds to be re-examined and to receive greater emphasis in future studies.

Adult↗