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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

L ooking to get into clini- cal research? A £4.5M start-up fund has been established for medical and dental professionals engaged in research to help kick start their scientific career by allowing them to pursue academic work alongside patient care. The money will be distributed in grants of up to £30,000 to clini- cal lecturers (dentists/doctors who hold a PhD/MD and are working towards completion of specialty training) to help them gather pre- liminary data and strengthen their applications for longer term fel- lowships and funding. The grants will be awarded biannually from 2013 for four years through the Academy of Medical Sciences Starter Grants for Clinical lectur- ers Scheme. The Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers scheme was launched in 2008 by the Academy of Medi- cal Sciences in partnership with the Wellcome Trust. Since then the scheme has awarded £4.4m in grants to more than 150 clini- cal lecturers who have gone on to secure substantive research fund- ing, set up their own laboratories, authored articles in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals and se- cured senior research posts. A review of the first three rounds of the Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers scheme found that 86 per cent of award holders had generated preliminary data that formed the basis for substan- tive research funding, and despite the scheme being new, 48 per cent had already noted significant ca- reer developments or promotions since receiving their award, and 38 per cent had already authored a peer-reviewed article as first au- thor in high impact journal publi- cations including The New Eng- land Journal of Medicine, Nature Genetics and Lancet Neurology. The deadline for the next round of applications is 4 March, 2013 DT Fund for aspiring researchers S hetland-based dental nurse Melanie Inkster has been struck off by the General Dental Council following a public hearing which she failed to attend. Ms Inkster was employed as a dental nurse at 90 St Olaf Street, Lerwick, Shetland. The GDC’s Professional Conduct Committee found that over a 12-month pe- riod, she overcharged patients for their treatment; falsely recorded lower payments as having been received; and took the sum over- charged for her own use. The hearing was told that Ms Inkster admitted her actions dur- ing her employer’s disciplinary process, when it was recorded that she said “It was not something she would normally do but it started and got out of hand”. The Committee said: “Ms Ink- ster’s actions fell far short of the standards of the profession, and her conduct was inappropriate and dishonest. Ms Inkster’s action was a serious breach of patient trust and disregarded basic ten- ets of the profession. Her actions in stealing from patients and the practice were dishonest, system- atic and sustained conduct over a period of time.” Whilst recognising that dis- honesty does not inevitably lead to erasure from the GDC’s register, the case also involved breaches of patient trust. Ms Inkster’s behav- iour has been deemed so unac- ceptable to the reputation of the profession that erasure is the only appropriate and proportionate sanction. Ms Inkster has until 2 De- cember 2012 to lodge an ap- peal to the Court of Session DT Dental nurse struck off A n oral rinse of the an- tidepressant doxepin significantly eased pain associated with oral mucositis in patients receiving radiation therapy for cancers of the head and neck, a study led by Mayo Clinic found. The findings were presented at the American Socie- ty for Radiation Oncology annual meeting in Boston. “Oral mucositis or mouth sores is a painful and debilitating side effect of radiation therapy,” says principal investigator Robert Miller, M.D., a radiation oncolo- gist at Mayo Clinic. “Our findings represent a new standard of care for treating this condition.” A n infant dental-care company has reached the final of the Nec- tar Business Small Business Awards, a national competi- tion to reward and recognise the importance of small busi- nesses to the economy. Brush-Baby was awarded Highly Commended in the In- novation of the Year category at an Awards Ceremony host- ed by Karren Brady, UK busi- ness woman and star of BBC 1’s ‘The Apprentice’. As a mum wanting the best dental care for her baby, Brush-Baby founder Dominique Tillen, struggled to find a suitable product for her baby daughter. Therefore perceiving a gap in the market based on her own needs, she researched, manufactured and developed a Chewable Toothbrush. Ergonomically- designed and endorsed by dentists, and loved by infants who literally “chew” on the toothbrush initially to soothe teething gums and then to clean emerging teeth, it has gone on to establish itself as an award-winning product in the Brush-Baby range of den- tal products. Dominique said: “I am de- lighted that Brush-Baby was so highly respected and ulti- mately rewarded. However, I am even more pleased from a dental angle as this rec- ognition might increase the presence of the importance of dental health for parents and dental professionals alike. Recent statistics concur more than one million Brit- ish children under five have at least two fillings and forty seven per cent of young- sters under 12 have been told they have dental decay. As a nation our attention to in- fant dental health is woeful – we pay more attention and money to fashionable items of clothing which are often discarded due to changing tastes and yet teeth which are with us, hopefully for a life- time, seem to get forgotten – yet if looked cared properly can be a person’s best fashion asset! “Brush-Baby is not only a business but is committed to increasing the importance of infant dental-health. We are due to roll out a pre-school and nursery campaign with a leading dental charity in the new year, and this award win certainly gives us kudos and the impetus that infant dental education needs.” DT T he Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued an alert about medical devices and me- dicinal products containing chlorhexidine. There is a risk that some people may suffer an anaphy- lactic reaction to the chemical antiseptic. A variety of medicinal prod- ucts and medical devices con- tain chlorhexidine, including some over-the-counter prod- ucts. Examples include: anti- septic creams, wipes, cleansers and skin preparations, antisep- tic mouthwashes, toothpastes and dental implants. The General Dental Coun- cil is reminding all registrants that its ‘Standards for dental professionals’ says: 5.3 Find out about current best practice in the fields in which you work. Provide a good standard of care based on available and up- to-date evidence and reliable guidance. DT Antidepressant eases pain of oral mucositis Business recognition for Brush-Baby GDC alerts registrants to MHRA warning 6 News Doxepin rinse does not cause the side effects associ- ated with narcotic pain medi- cines, Dr. Miller says. The Phase III study as- sessed the effectiveness of doxepin oral rinse versus pla- cebo in 155 patients receiving radiation therapy for head and neck cancer. Patients received a single blinded dose of dox- epin on day one and crossed over to the opposite study arm on a subsequent day. Patients reported pain as- sociated with oral mucositis n a pain questionnaire with a scale of 0 to 10 adminis- tered at baseline and then at five, 15, 30, 60, 120 and 240 minutes after rinsing with doxepin. Patients could con- tinue doxepin after the study, and 64 percent did so. Dox- epin was well tolerated, though stinging, burning, unpleasant taste and drowsi- ness were reported as side effects. DT November 12 - 18, 2012United Kingdom Edition L-R Karren Brady and Dominique Tillen