RECENT MASTER'S THESES AND DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS
 

LaBelle H.R. Professional publicity, Problematics discussed on dental advertising based on the Canadian Supreme court’s decision Rocket [1990] versus commercialism and professionalism.  Thesis submitted for a Master degree in Health Law. [Article in French] Québec, Canada, December 2004, 152p. Université of Sherbrooke, Law Faculty
Professional publicity has undergone major changes since 1970, when the FTC*, OECD and governments, upon the encouragements from economists, liberated it from its previous restrictions. Formerly it had been thought detrimental to the quality of services and the dignity of the profession. This new wave, buoyed by adapted norms of the Charters and the Code of ethics, brought about a new jurisprudence, which solidified legal argumentations, based on the American Bill of rights, the Canadian and the Québec charters.
This policy had its impact on Québec in 1990’s following a Supreme Court’s decision in the Rocket ruling rendered by the honourable judge McLachlin. We mean to present a certain jurisprudence to evaluate the consequences of this movement and shall try to analyse the problematic it has produced in dental advertising.
By revising restrictions on professional publicity the same judgement has contributed to create a better informed consumer while aiming to promote professionalism. Is professionalism, as we know it, in danger of loosing ground to commercialism? Has the consumer truly profited by the modifications to our laws and has the monetary aspect really worked out in his favour? Publicity wanting it or not has become a reality to live with. How well the profession will deal with it is another matter. The role of the ODQ and the dental faculties will be determinant in motivating the profession to regenerate professionalism, which has been under considerable strain since the liberalisation of publicity. [FTC=US Federal Trade Commission / OECD= Organisation for Economic and Co-operation Development / ODQ=Ordre des dentistes du Québec (licensing body)]  This document is available, in French, at http://www.evaludent.ca

Quinonez, Carlos R: A political economy of dentistry in Nunavut
M.Sc. Thesis, University of Manitoba (Canada), 2004, 362 pp
What factors influence the development of dental care in Nunavut communities? Using an ethnographic case study design (with data collected through participant observation, stakeholder interviews, and document reviews), this investigation proposes that four factors impact on dental health care development in Nunavut: (1) Geography and Disease Burden impact care by complicating the practices associated with service delivery in remote communities to a population with a high prevalence of dental disease; (2) Indigenous Self-Determination impacts care through the challenging social reorientations that are necessary in the context of building Canada's first Inuit ‘self-government through public government’; (3) State/Indigenous Relations impact care by situating this service's development in a series of unsettled, unclear, and politicised debates, that compromise effective delivery of service; and (4) Dental Practice and Philosophy impact care by informing service delivery in a manner that is generally ill equipped to meet the needs of such a population, and by shifting attention from public to private interests. It is proposed that the latter two factors require attention if dental care in Nunavut is to meet both the health needs of individuals as well as the aspirations of Inuit for a health care system accountable to the broad community.

Lalwani, Priyanka. HIV/AIDS: Knowledge and attitudes of first and second year Indian dental students
(MS Thesis, Texas Woman's University, 2005)
The increased likelihood of HIV/AIDS infection reaching epidemic heights in South-East Asian countries like India makes it crucial for health care workers, including dentists, to be well informed and adequately prepared to encounter this challenge. Dentists can play an important role in the early diagnosis and detection of HIV/AIDS as many patients present with intra-oral manifestations of the disease (Gerbert, 1987). The attitudes of dental students with regard to AIDS are of prime importance because dental students represent the future of the profession. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS of first and second year Indian dental students. A sample of 66 first and second year students enrolled at Government Dental College and Hospital (GDC&H) in Mumbai, India participated in the study. A survey questionnaire developed by the researcher was utilized to collect data for the study. The findings of this study present insight on how well the dental students are prepared to deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India and what additional efforts are warranted in this direction.

Ardenghi, Diego M. Dentist Patient Relationship: A Cultural Historical Theoretical Approach
A Thesis submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. University of Victoria, Canada, 2006.
This thesis is about ethics in the dentist-patient relationships. Using cultural-historical activity theory and discourse analysis as theoretical and methodological frameworks, I investigate (a) how ethics emerges in dentists’ discourse when they talk about dental patient relationships; (b) how dentists deal with conflicts that emerge in their interaction with the patients; and (c) how a dental clinic is organized and works on a daily basis. I also discuss the implications of a theory of unknowability of actions for dentistry practice. My database is composed of dentists’ narratives during videotaped interviews, and an ethnographic study in a private dental clinic in Canada. I conclude that ethics is embodied in the dentists’ actions; that the development of phronesis helps dentists to solve conflicts in the workplace; and that the trajectory of the dental treatment is conducted in states through a complex division of labor and often in more than one activity system.

Andersson, Kerstin. Oral health in old age. Perceptions   
Doctoral Dissertation. Karolinksa Institutet, Sweden, 2006.
The general aim of this thesis was to investigate perceptions of oral health among elderly persons and among medical professionals working at primary health care centres. The study samples consisted of elderly persons and medical professionals in the County of Stockholm. The thesis combines a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. The quantitative method was based on a questionnaire and clinical examination with defined variables carried out by a dental hygienist. Two different data collection methods were compared in Paper I. The qualitative methods comprised two types of in-depth interview. One interview study was phenomenological-hermeneutic inspired by Giorgi (Paper II) and the other was based on grounded theory inspired by Strauss & Corbin (Papers III & IV).
The results show that there are differences between the way the individuals who participated' in the studies perceive their oral health and function and the way it is evaluated by professionals in clinical examinations (Paper I). Furthermore, the individuals' perceived oral health as a whole comprised of several aspects: functional, social and psychological. All the aspects were connected to well-being and quality of life (Paper II).
The studies of the medical professionals (Paper III) revealed that the general practitioners were unaware of the oral health of their elderly patients. They perceived cultural differences between medicine and dentistry. The district nurses (Paper IV) reported several obstacles that prevented them from taking responsibility for the whole nursing care around an individual. They perceived oral health and oral problems as belonging exclusively to dentistry.
The findings of all these studies emphasise the complexity of oral health and oral care when it comes to both the communication between the dental professionals and the patients and the co-operation between the medical and dental professionals. The research also points to the importance of finding ways to support and promote oral health among elderly individuals. As their general health deteriorates, their ability for self-care is reduced and they become less independent Identifying this breaking point at which intervention becomes necessary is one of the major challenges to ensure good oral health in ageing.
In conclusion, improved understanding and co-operation between general practitioners and dental teams, as well as between district nurses and dental hygienists, is necessary to improve oral health and oral care which is important to enhance the well-being of the elderly. [Keywords: oral health, elderly, general practitioner, district nurse, collaboration]