Synopses & Reviews
This book is a report of a strategic planning conference on dental informatics held at the Aspen Institute, Wye, Maryland during August 1989. The conference brought together representatives of the principal U.S. dental organizations, dental academicians working on research and development, as well as individuals from other health professions. The ultimate goal is to identify current initiatives in dental informatics and how they can be meshed into "whole cloth" so that the quality of dental patient care, dental education and dental research can benefit. A further goal is for the various organizations represented to identify their roles in developing informatics in coordinated fashion throughout all segments of dentistry.
Synopsis
This publication is a report of the first planning conference to address strategic issues in Dental Informatics. The conference was held in August 1989 at the Aspen Institute, Maryland. The attendees represented the major organizations in Dentistry and were able to speak for the organizations as to their goals, objectives, and long range interests. The goal of the conference was to define the parameters of dental informatics across all levels of dental organizations and activities and to address specifically the areas of dental practice, education, and research.
Synopsis
During the course of this year, 1990, dentistry will celebrate its sesquicentennial as a profession. In February 1840, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, the Dental School of the University of Maryland, was chartered by the Maryland General Assembly as the world's first dental school. In the same year the American Society of Dental Surgeons, the antecedent of the present day American Dental Association, was founded, also in Baltimore. In the previous year, 1839, the American Journal of Dental Science was initiated as the first periodic scientific and professional publication in dentistry, later evolving to the Journal of the American Dental Association. With the congruence of three fundamental elements which are essential to any profession--a unique program of education, a formal means to communicate and freely share new information, and an organization devoted to maintenance of professional ethics and standards through self-regulation--dentistry began evolving to its current status as a valued and respected health profession. From its birth and through the intervening century and a half, dentistry has been a profession heavily reliant on technology as well as science. Dentists variously are credited with the discovery and development of general anesthesia and the precision casting technique; and they make significant use of rotary cutting instruments, ultrasonics, laser technology, unique biomaterials, and intraosseous implants, to mention only a few techniques.