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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition | 1/20152 UK NEWS Billions to suffer from untreated decay By DentalTribune Alarming increase in oral cancer rates By DentalTribune MANCHESTER, UK: Researchers from the University of Manchester have found that oral hygiene therapists can perform screening for common dental diseases as well as general dentists. Their study com- pared the diagnostic test accuracy of hy- giene therapists in screening for dental caries and periodontal disease in regularly attending asymptomatic adults. The finding has important ramifications for service design in public-funded health systems as regularly attending adult pa- tients in the UK are increasingly asympto- maticandoftendonotrequiretreatmentat their routine dental examinations. Thus, using GDPs to undertake the check-ups on regular low-risk patients represents a po- tentially unnecessary cost for state-funded systems. Given recent regulatory changes in the UK, it is now theoretically possible to dele- gate a range of tasks to dental care profes- sionals. According to the researchers, role substitution in primary dental care may be a promising option for reducing costs, re- leasing the GDP’s time and increasing the capacity to care for those who do not cur- rently access services. Throughout the UK, only about 50 per cent of the population at- tend the dentist. The other half is generally socio-economically disadvantaged and ex- periences the majority of dental diseases. Ten dental practices across North West England took part in the study and 1,899 asymptomatic adult patients were screened.Visualscreeningbyhygienether- apists was taken as the index test and the GDP acted as the reference standard. The primary outcomes measured were the sen- sitivity and specificity values for dental caries and periodontal disease. The results of the study showed that the hygiene therapists performed comparably to the GDPs. Richard Macey, lead author of the study and research assistant at the den- tal school, told medicalnewstoday.com:“In particular, hygiene therapists were good at identifying those patients the GDP had confirmed were caries free and at identify- ing periodontal disease where the dentists confirmed its presence.” Fiona Sandom, President of the British Association of Dental Therapists, wel- comed the findings of the study:“Our asso- ciation find the results of this study en- couraging and we view it as further evi- dence to support delegation within the dental team. The research confirms that dental hygienists and therapists have key partstoplayinthefuturedeliveryofdental care within the UK.” The study, titled “The efficacy of screen- ing for common dental diseases by hy- giene-therapists: A diagnostic test accu- racystudy”,waspublishedonlineon20Jan- uary in the Journal of Dental Research. Dentalcareprofessionalssuitableforperforming oralscreenings By DentalTribune LONDON, UK: Despite worldwide efforts to improve oral health, a global study has found that 35 per cent of the world’s population cur- rentlysufferfromuntreatedcariouslesionsin theirpermanentteeth.Italsoestablishedthat 621millionchildrenworldwidehavetoothde- caythatgoeswithoutdentalcare. Tomakethingsworse,hundredsofmillions ofnewcasesareexpectedtoaddtotheburden of dental decay annually owing to neglected treatment, according to the new paper by re- searchers from the UK, the US and Australia published online in the Journal of Dental Re- search. Evendevelopedcountriesareaffected,with oneinthreepeopleintheUKsufferingthecon- sequences of neglected treatment, along with oneinfiveintheUS,forexample. The findings, which are part of the latest GlobalBurdenofDiseasestudy,involvedasys- tematic review of all data on untreated dental decay, leading to a comprehensive report on rates of tooth decay for all countries and age groupsandbothsexesfor1990and2010.The team analysed 192 studies of 1.5 million chil- drenaged1to14yearsold,across74countries, and 186 studies of 3.2 million people aged 5yearsorolder,across67countries. “We have seen a clear shift in the burden of tooth decay from children to adults. The cur- © Aigars Reinholds / shutterstock.com rent perception that low levels of decay in childhood will continue throughout life seemsincorrect,”saidleadauthorProf.Wagner Marcenes from the Queen Mary University of London. “It is alarming to see prevention and treat- mentoftoothdecayhasbeenneglectedatthis level because if left untreated it can cause se- vere pain, mouth infection and it can nega- tivelyimpactchildren’sgrowth.” Marcenes explained that the study under- scores the vital need to develop effective oral healthpromotionstrategies. “Thefactthatapreventableoraldiseaselike tooth decay is the most prevalent of all dis- eases and injuries examined in our report is quitedisturbingandshouldserveasawake-up calltopolicymakerstoincreasetheirfocuson the importance of dental health,” he contin- ued.“Extending oral health promotion activi- ties to the work environment is necessary to maintaingoodoralhealthtoreducethemajor biological,socialandfinancialburdenonindi- vidualsandhealthcaresystems.” Tooth decay is the fourth most expensive chronic disease to treat, and studies have shown that if left untreated it can lead to poorproductivityatworkandabsenteeismin adults and poor school attendance and performanceinchildren. RUGBY, UK: In marking World Cancer Day, the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) has highlighted the constantly increasing rates of oral cancer in the country. Latest statistics from Cancer Research UK showed that nearly 6,800 people are diagnosed with mouthcancerintheUKeveryyear.Thisfigure hasincreasedby50percentwithinthelastten years. Accordingtoleadingoralcancercampaign- ers, mouth cancer rates could be reduced by improvingthepublic’sknowledgeoftheasso- ciatedriskfactorsandpossiblesymptoms. WorldCancerDay,aninitiativeoftheUnion for International Cancer Control, takes place every year on 4 February and aims to raise awareness about the disease and to promote action by governments and individuals all around the world. Under the tagline “Not be- yond us”, this year’s World Cancer Day placed emphasis on cancer prevention, including following a healthy lifestyle and early detec- tion. In order to educate people about these risks, as well as the signs and symptoms of mouthcancer,theBDHFinitiatedMouthCan- cer Action Month, a month-long campaign that has been run every November since 2009. “Itisalmostasthoughthesemessageswere createdwithmouthcancerinmind,giventhe huge significance they can make to reducing the risk of the disease and catching it early,” statedDrNigelCarter,OBE,ChiefExecutiveof theBDHF. Lifestylefactors,suchastobaccouse,exces- sive alcohol consumption, poor diet and hu- man papillomavirus infection, contribute to anincreasedriskofdevelopingmouthcancer. According to Cancer Research UK, nine in ten cases of oral cancer are associated with these factors. “Weoftenfindmanycasesarediagnosedat stage4―themostadvancedstagewheretime is of the essence in potentially saving a life. Withoutearlydetection,thefive-yearsurvival rate for mouth cancer is only 50 per cent. If it is caught early, survival rates over five years can dramatically improve to up to 90 per cent,” explained Carter. According to BDHF, more than 1,800 people in the UK lose their lifetomouthcancereveryyear. TheBDHFrecommendsvisitingthedentist and checking for possible mouth cancer symptomsregularly. Carter emphasised: “We are asking every- body to be mouthaware by looking out for ulcers which do not heal within three weeks, red and white patches in the mouth and un- usual lumps or swellings in the mouth are earlywarningsignsofmouthcancer.” Hygiene therapists performed comparably to the GDPs in the study. DTUK0115_01-02_Title 09.04.15 16:55 Seite 2 DTUK0115_01-02_Title 09.04.1516:55 Seite 2

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