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We, as part of our micro-educational opportunities,2 engage with the community by sending our Year 5 dental students and hygiene/therapy students to a variety of community settings together with qualied dental nurses. These include a homeless shelter for young adults, a drug and alcohol detoxication unit, drug and alcohol recovery services, and the Probation Service (community drop in centres). The students talk with the residents and service users disseminating oral health advice, providing oral health screening and free toothbrushes and toothpaste. Patients requiring treatment are then offered an appointment at the Dental Academy where all treatment is provided by students free of charge through our NHS primary care contract.
Although our provision of community service is much less comprehensive than that reported, as it is just one element of what we do at the Dental Academy, it does embed in the students a new dimension to their professional career. Despite reducing budgets, we have continued to provide the services due to their signicant positive impact on the patients, as well as broadening the experience of our students. Last, we will point students to this excellent paper to give them greater insight into dental care for the homeless and hard to reach, to enhance their understanding in this important area of dental care provision. D. R. Radford, G. Potts, S. Dampier, L.Davda, Portsmouth
1. Caton S, Greenhalgh F, Goodacre L. Evaluation of a community dental service for homeless and hard to reach people. Br Dent J 2016; 220: 6770.2. Radford D R, Weld J A. Micro-educational opportunities in outreach clinical dental education.
Br Dent J 2013; 215: 389391.
DOI: 1 0.1038/sj.bdj.2016.204
PERI-IMPLANT DISEASE Not the grim reaper?
Sir, I read with interest the article on combating peri-implant disease (BDJ 2016; 220: 4849). It certainly makes for grim reading and as someone who is actively involved in implant therapy as well as assessing implant cases caught in the net of dento-legal litigation, I am only too aware of the problem.
However, I would caution your readers about the premise upon which much of the periodontal community has drawn its data, since it does not differentiate between aetiologies of peri-implant disease. The need for a classication of aetiology is long overdue since many initiating factors that can lead...