Dentist gender-related differences in patients' oral health behaviour

Hospitalisation outcomes for patients with severe mental illness treated by female vs. male psychiatry residents

OBJECTIVE

Recent literature suggests that female physicians provide higher quality of care compared to their male counterparts across a variety of physical medical conditions. We examine whether a similar phenomenon is observed for psychiatry residents treating hospitalised psychiatric patients.

METHODS

We analysed 300 hospitalised patient records from Shalvata Mental Healthcare Centre (Hod Hasharon, Israel). Resident-patient sex matchings were compared.

RESULTS

No significant differences were observed in terms of residents' age and patients' age, medical condition and hospitalisation history. Male and female patients treated by female residents presented shorter hospitalisations (58 and 54 days compared to 67 and 66 days, respectively, p < .05), longer time to next hospitalisation (269 and 179 days compared to 179 and 123 days, respectively, p < .01), lower 30-day readmission rate (37% and 35% compared to 10% and 19%, respectively, p < .05), higher levels of family involvement during hospitalisation (2.6 and 2.7 points compared to 2.1 and 1.9 points, respectively, p < .01) and higher chances of obtaining rehabilitation services (39% and 34% vs. 23% and 17%, respectively, p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Hospitalised patients treated by female psychiatry residents are associated with better hospitalisation outcomes compared to those cared for by male residents. KEY POINTSBoth male and female patients treated by female residents presented better hospitalisation outcomes.These hospitalisation outcomes include shorter hospitalisation periods, longer time to next hospitalisation, lower 30-day remission rate, significantly higher levels of family involvement and higher chances of obtaining rehabilitation services.Further work is needed in order to investigate the sources and reasons for the identified differences.

Perceptions of professional social media interaction with patients and faculty members - a comparative survey among dental students from Malaysia and Finland

BACKGROUND

Professional and personal boundaries are blurred with the wide application of social media (SM) in the health professions line of work. Little is known about practice of extending friend requests to patients and faculty members among dental students, which encompass a part of E-professionalism. The aim of this study is to assess the factors associated with the perceptions and practices of interactions with patients and faculty on SM among dental students from Malaysia and Finland.

METHODS

Dental students from 4 institutions in Malaysia and Finland completed self-administered questionnaires on the practices and perceptions of SM use. The main variables assessed were the perceptions and practices of student-patient and student-faculty communication on SM, between the two countries. Students' country, age, gender, time spent on SM and perceived importance of communicating dental related aspects over SM were analysed as potential explanatory variables. Crosstabulation was used to estimate the distributions of the response variables by the background characteristics. Multivariate analyses were performed using a dichotomous logistic regression model to investigate relevant associations between the responses and the explanatory variables independent from other factors.

RESULTS

A total of 643 students completed the survey in March-April 2021. More Malaysian students agreed with "guiding patients online is a new responsibility for dentists in the digital age" compared to Finnish students (86.4% vs. 73.4%). Similarly, significantly more Malaysian students befriended patients (14.1% vs. 1%) and invited faculty to be friends on SM (73.6% vs. 11.8%). Expectedly, clinical year students befriended patients more than pre-clinical (13.8% vs. 6.8%). Significantly more students who felt 'communication of dental related issues over SM' were likely to extend friend requests to faculty rather than accept patient friend requests.

CONCLUSIONS

Social media regulations and socio-cultural practices contribute to dental students' attitudes and behaviour when befriending patients and faculty members on social media. Future dental curriculum should incorporate guidelines for professional communication on social media based on local and cultural needs. Students' should be encouraged to interact with their patients using professional identities on social media.

COVID-19: The Dentists' Perceived Impact on the Dental Practice

Objectives  The present study aimed to investigate the dentists’ knowledge of the risks from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and how it will impact their practice.

Materials and Methods  An ad hoc self-administered anonymous questionnaire was submitted to Italian dentists.

Statistical Analysis  Differences in rates were calculated using the chi-square test. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results  A total of 849 dentists fully completed the survey. Eighty-eight per cent of Italian dentists are worried about the health of their families, with no difference in high-risk (red zone) and low-risk (orange zone) regions. About 86% of professionals report some income loss and 94% fear a drop in patients after the quarantine phase, with the dentists working the red zone claiming a greater economic loss and fearing a reduced practice after the end of the lockdown.

Discussion  A large majority of the Italian dentists appears to be aware of the need for changes in their dental practices by planning specific sterilization processes between appointments, testing patients for SARS-CoV-2 serology, asking patients not to be accompanied, and reducing the number of visits per day.

Conclusion  The survey expresses the serious concern of the dentists for the pandemic’s effects on their profession.

Awareness, knowledge and treatment decisions for erosive tooth wear: A case-based questionnaire among Danish dentists

Objective

To examine the knowledge and experience of erosive tooth wear (ETW) among Danish dental practitioners and, based on two cases, explore their treatment decisions.

Methods

We sent a validated questionnaire electronically to all active members of The Danish Dental Association and The Association of Public Health Dentists in Denmark. The questionnaire had two parts; the first focused on scoring, recordkeeping, knowledge and experience of ETW. The second part presented two patients with different severity of erosive lesions to explore the dentists preventive and restorative treatment decisions.

Results

We received 442 answers from 4,490 potentially eligible dentists in Denmark (response rate 9.8%). The majority (78%) was female and the median age was 44 years. Nearly all respondents (97%) registered ETW in the charts and 49% recorded “always” or “often” the patients' diet history, most commonly with aid of interviews. The respondents perceived the prevalence of ETW to be higher today than 10–15 years ago and male patients (15–25 years) appeared more affected than females. The majority (82%) thought that they usually found the probable cause of the condition with carbonated beverages being the most common factor. The treatment included dietary guidance, soft tooth brushing with non‐abrasive fluoride toothpaste, topical fluoride applications and direct composite restorations.

Conclusion

The majority of Danish dentists taking part of this survey had adopted a minimally invasive approach for the management of erosive tooth wear in young adults. There was however room for improvements in diagnosis, scoring and case documentation.