D W Chambers

..A taxonomy of experiments is presented. The ethical context for this paper is discursive ethics, an approach that emphasizes the right of all affected to participate in mutual acceptance of the action...

....

..Some of the characteristics of this view are discussed...

....

..The personalities and values of dentists and the expression of these in professional norms may function to limit our understanding of dentistry. Based on this analysis, eight predictions are offered about the profession...

....

..Older dentists and those who felt more competent at the time of graduation were less conservative. Amount of practice debt was a better predictor of unconventional practice than was educational debt...

..Familiarity with these concepts should make it possible for dental educators to more fully participate in discussions about the relationships between budgeting and program strategy...

..This study provides preliminary support for a general competency hypothesis and suggests that research is necessary to better understand how students and dentists learn and practice rather than how they are taught...

..One strong consensus that emerged was the desirability of creating an alliance of all concerned with oral health care to continue such conversations...

..The concept of gradient of generalizability is introduced, and implications for initial licensure examinations are discussed...

..Compared to beginners, competent students showed more evidence of using powerful, internalized schema to guide their performance, were smoother, and seemed less rule-driven...

..They show excellent face validity and rater consistency in some cases. Gradients of generalizability are reported, demonstrating that the ratings satisfy the school's standard for grade defensibility...

..Essential concepts covered include: control cycles, focus on the process rather than the defects, the GEAR model, importance of the customer, upstream quality, just-in-time, kaizen, and service quality...

..The results suggest that GCF elastase. age and smoking are risk indicators for periodontitis in patients with diabetes mellitus, and periodontal status is not associated with the duration and metabolic control of diabetes...

..This analysis references a previously published survey on competency-based dental education to illustrate methodological points in concrete terms...

..Practice problems, and responses to the problems, were found to differ according to the number of years in practice, validating a stage explanation of professional growth...

..Ethical dentists have obligations to act to protect their patients and the profession in their relationships with patients and with colleagues, as a profession in dealing with the public, and as a research community...

..It is concluded that the openness of the competency concept is one reason for its longevity and usefulness in dental education...

..The profession is becoming segmented--including growing disparities among dentists in earning potential--to the point where a single model may no longer be able to cover all needs for oral health...

..CONCLUSION: These data indicate that sites with high GCF levels of MMP-3 and TIMP-1 are at significantly greater risk for progression of periodontitis...

..The findings suggest that faculty members assume that students are skilled in these areas and tend to comment when their expectations are not fulfilled...

..The authors could not locate in the literature any studies of diagnostic probability estimates from baseline information and test data for dentists...

....

....

....

..Admissions committees should determine if they want to invest the resources required to implement a multitude of admissions predictors to find the best of the qualified applicants...

..Studies conducted as single schools, regardless of their methodological rigor, fail to address issues associated with potential transfer of findings to other schools...

..In conclusion, there is no evidence in this study that repeated clinical competency ratings promote stereotyping of students by faculty members...

..Contributions are needed in all areas from individuals with various levels of training and commitment. Building the moral community is unique among ethical activities because it inescapably involves all oral health professionals...

..The core theme in the recommendations from Ethics Summit on Commercialism is that competent, comprehensive, and continuous oral health care is appropriate and should be promoted to the American public...

..Because attempts to improve initial licensure examinations have not been grounded in measurement theory, partial and inadequate remedies have led to a cycle of refutations, defenses and political polarization...

..Female students reported more needlesticks and a greater fear of injury than did male students. It is hypothesized that a personal interpretation of the meaning of clinical injuries influences reporting behavior...

..The ability for an applicant to perform successfully in dental school will not be reliably predicted by tweezer dexterity score...

..This study evaluated high plaque scores as predictors of patient appointment compliance behavior. It was found that high initial plaque scores can predict poor compliance with subsequent recall appointments...

....

..Moral influence among communities can include the damaging methods of "the superior position," coercion and misrepresentation, and appeal to third parties and the sound methods of rhetoric and promise making...

..This is best done with a balanced scorecard that includes leading and lagging indicators of mission and vision. Indicators should be sampled to represent the practice and monitored against targets to propel the practice toward success...

..It also helps identify major controllable costs in dentistry and suggests that dentists can act as a group to increase or decrease agency costs, primarily by controlling the bad actors who damage the value of all dentists...

..Finally, several theories of motivation as life orientation are developed...

..Properly understood, we can find examples of heroes in dentistry, even if they are not the ones that come naturally to mind...

..Four suggestions are offered for addressing issue of opportunism...

..Large ethics does not make it a prerequisite for moral behavior that everyone adheres to a universally agreed set of ethical principles; all that is necessary is sufficient overlap in commitment to searching for better alternatives...

..Eleven specific "lessons learned about moral behavior" are identified...

..In some of these areas, dentistry has been consistent with the patterns of innovation--even being a model in some cases. There are also areas where dentistry is moving in contrary directions...

..The continued viability of professions such as dentistry depends on protecting against threats to the five essential characteristics that define professionalism...

..The essence of reflection is finding a meaningful way to make tacit knowledge available in explicit form. Often this involves story telling, with its attendant features of plot, emotion, dramatic tension, and the success of the hero...

..Differences in how these generations see motivation and values, fundamental reality, relations with others, and work are presented, as are some applications of these differences to the dental profession...

..Self-control also interacts with goal setting and achievement. There are predictable differences among individuals who seek success and those who avoid failure...

..Coping, substandard but acceptable performance, is common among professionals and its long-term side effects can be debilitating. A crash occurs when coping mechanisms fail...

..Each of these approaches has advantages, and each is incomplete. The general problem of converting ethical knowledge to moral conduct will be presented in a subsequent essay...