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Biomedical subjects

N J Minden

Publications and source records attributed to N J Minden.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Centralized automated quality assurance for large scale health care systems. A pilot method for some aspects of dental radiography.

President Clinton's Health Security Act proposes the formation of large scale health plans with improved quality assurance. Dental radiography consumes 4% ($1.2 billion in 1990) of total dental expenditure yet regular systematic office quality assurance is not performed. A pilot automated method is described for assessing density of exposed film and fogging of unexposed processed film. A workstation and camera were used to input intraoral radiographs. Test images were produced from a phantom jaw with increasing exposure times. Two radiologists subjectively classified the images as too light, acceptable, or too dark. A computer program automatically classified global grey level histograms from the test images as too light, acceptable, or too dark. The program correctly classified 95% of 88 clinical films. Optical density of unexposed film in the range 0.15 to 0.52 measured by computer was reliable to better than 0.01. Further work is needed to see if comprehensive centralized automated radiographic quality assurance systems with feedback to dentists are feasible, are able to improve quality, and are significantly cheaper than conventional clerical methods.

Absorptiometry, Photon↗
PubMed1994

Evaluation of health history forms used in U.S. dental schools.

Ideally the health history form should ensure safe care to the patient, support the dentist legally, and ensure a satisfactory treatment outcome. Health history forms from 47 dental schools were evaluated in light of curriculum guidelines for physical evaluation and for their helpfulness to the dentist to provide safe care, to support the dentist legally, and to provide satisfactory treatment outcomes for the patient. In spite of curriculum guidelines in physical evaluation, significant differences were found among the health histories used by dental schools. Recommendations are made to improve the content and format of the health history forms used in dental schools with a corresponding impact on the private dental practitioner.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1994

Managing the perceptions of patient wait time.

Patients' perception of waiting time in the dental office can greatly affect their satisfaction of service. Traditional approaches to managing patient perceptions of wait time are discussed, and some new strategies are explored.

Appointments and Schedules↗
PubMed1994

A modified sectional cone obturation technique.

This investigation quantitatively analyzed the apical seal in teeth in which one of three gutta-percha root canal-obturating techniques was used. The seal obtained with each technique was measured with dye penetration and spectrophotometric analysis. No statistically significant difference was found among the lateral condensation, sectional cone, and modified sectional cone techniques in their ability to produce an apical seal.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1993

The patient's health history form: how healthy is it?

An aging population, a more medically complex patient base and concerns about infectious diseases have complicated dentistry in the past decade--making a thorough health history more important than ever. A survey comparing dental university health history forms with those used by some general practitioners is presented.

Dental Records↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Decisions of practitioners regarding placement of amalgam and composite restorations in general practice settings.

This study was undertaken to analyze the current reasons practitioners in general practice settings choose to place amalgam and composite restorations. Data were gathered on individual restorations in the clinical setting to provide information on reasons practitioners state that restorations are placed, the type of material most often placed in different restoration classifications, and the age of restorations at the time of replacement. The results of this study indicate that approximately one-half of all restorations, both amalgam and composite, were placed to treat primary caries. One-half of the remaining restorations placed, i.e., not including those with primary caries, were placed to treat recurrent caries. With respect to restorative materials, amalgam was most often placed in class 1 and class 2 situations (88.9% of the amalgam restorations reported), while composite was most often placed in class 3, 4, or 5 situations (77.4% of the composite restorations reported). From the total data set returned for replaced restorations, only 20% of the data forms reported on verified longevity of the restoration being replaced. Analysis of these data gave a calculated median longevity for amalgam and composite restorations of 10 years and 5 years respectively.

Adolescent↗