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Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 4/2016 hygiene tribune2 Dentalcareprofessionalsworkaseffectiveasgeneraldentistsinscreeningforcommondentaldiseases. (Photograph:schegi/Shutterstock) Dental care professionals suitable for performing oral screenings ByDTI MANCHESTER, UK: British research- ers have found that oral hygiene therapists can perform screening for common dental diseases as well as general dentists. The finding has important ramifications for service design in public-funded health sys- tems. The study compared the diag- nostic test accuracy of hygiene ther- apists in screening for dental caries and periodontal disease in regularly attendingasymptomaticadults. The researchers at the School of Dentistry at the University of Man- chester examined the potential and effectiveness of delegating tasks performed by a general den- tal practitioner (GDP) to dental care professionals, including therapists, hygiene therapists, hygienists and extended-dutydentalnurses. Regularly attending adult patients in the UK are increasingly asymp- tomatic and often do not require treatment at 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- fundedsystems. Given recent regulatory changes in the UK, it is now theoretically pos- sible to delegate a range of tasks to dental care professionals. According to the researchers, role substitution in primary dental care may be a promising option for reducing costs, releasingtheGDP’stimeandincreas- ing the capacity to care for those who do not currently access services. Throughout the UK, only about 50 percentofthepopulationattendthe dentist. The other half is generally socio-economically disadvantaged andexperiencesthemajorityofden- taldiseases. Ten dental practices across North West England took part in the study and 1,899 asymptomatic adult pa- tients were screened. Visual screen- ing by hygiene therapists was taken as the index test and the GDP acted as the reference standard. The pri- mary outcomes measured were the sensitivity and specificity values for dental caries and periodontal dis- ease. 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 dental school, told medicalnewstoday.com: “In particular, hygiene therapists were good at identifying those pa- tients the GDP had confirmed were caries free and at identifying peri- odontal disease where the dentists confirmeditspresence.” Fiona Sandom, President of the Brit- ish Association of Dental Therapists, welcomed the findings of the study: “Our association find the results of this study encouraging and we view it as further evidence to support delegation within the dental team. The research confirms that dental hygienists and therapists have key partstoplayinthefuturedeliveryof dentalcarewithintheUK.” The study, titled “The efficacy of screening for common dental dis- eases by hygiene-therapists: A diag- nostic test accuracy study”, was pub- lished online on 20 January in the JournalofDentalResearch. Study identifies crucial role of dental hygienists in diabetes screening ByDTI POCATELLO, Idaho, USA: A number ofstudieshaveshownalinkbetween periodontal disease and diabetes. Now, a pilot study has assessed the effectiveness of diabetes screenings performed by dental hygienists for patients with periodontitis. By analyzing glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values, they were able to identify prediabetes or Type 2 diabe- tes in over two-thirds of the partici- pants. The study, which was conducted at Idaho State University, included 50 periodontitis patients who had never been diagnosed with diabetes. Using an HbA1c test, the researchers found blood glucose values indicat- ing prediabetes in 32 percent of the participants (16 patients). One test resultindicatedType2diabetes. Nine of the 17 participants with el- evated HbA1c values were advised to contact their primary health care provider within two weeks for verifi- cation of the diagnosis and possible earlyinterventions. According to the study, the mean screening time, including patient education, was 14 minutes and the direct costs for each examination amounted to $9, excluding follow- upmedicaldiagnosis. The researchers concluded that HbA1c screenings by dental hygien- ists were very effective and con- venient for identifying undiagnosed prediabetes. However, cost or lack of dental insurance may inhibit imple- mentationofsuchatestinthedental setting,theystated. The study, titled “A Pilot Study of an HbA1c Chairside Screening Protocol for Diabetes in Patients with Chronic Periodontitis: The Dental Hygien- ist’s Role,” was published online on March23intheInternationalJournal ofDentalHygieneaheadofprint. Screeningforsignsofdiabetesaspart ofdentalvisitscouldhelpidentifypatientswithdiabetesandpeopleat riskofdeveloping thedisease.(Photograph:mlarsson62/pixabay)