The current status of diabetes professional educational standards and competencies in the UK--a position statement from the Diabetes UK Healthcare Professional Education Competency Framework Task and Finish Group.

Diabetes is a significant health concern, both in the UK and globally. Management can be complex, often requiring high levels of knowledge and skills in order to provide high-quality and safe care. The provision of good, safe, quality care lies within the foundations of healthcare education, continuing professional development and evidence-based practice, which are inseparable and part of a continuum during the career of any health professional. Sound education provides the launch pad for effective clinical management and positive patient experiences. This position paper reviews and discusses work undertaken by a Working Group under the auspices of Diabetes UK with the remit of considering all health professional educational issues for people delivering care to people with diabetes. This work has scoped the availability of education for those within the healthcare system who may directly or indirectly encounter people with diabetes and reviews alignment to existing competency frameworks within the UK's National Health Service.

Application of a standard test to the in vitro performance of mouthguards.

OBJECTIVE: To use a simulated upper jaw made from a rubber arch containing replaceable ceramic teeth and a renewable composite ceramic jawbone to compare the effectiveness of seven custom made mouthguard designs and a "boil and bite" mouthguard. METHODS: Following an earlier development of a standard impact test using a selection of projectile shapes and energies, the most sensitive conditions were selected. These were then applied to a series of six guards constructed in ethylene vinyl acetate and styrene butadiene. The guards were constructed to reflect possible variations in both design and materials. RESULTS: Significant differences between the mouthguard performances were observed in response to the impact conditions selected. All the custom made designs gave better performance than the "boil and bite" mouthguard. CONCLUSIONS: The differences observed indicated that the standard test should be sensitive enough to be used as an assessment procedure for the approval of the manufacture of these safety devices. A sequence of tests on eight identical mouthguards selected from a batch of 12, based on the best design, gave remarkably consistent results, indicating that both the manufacturing technique and the test method are reliable. The features of the best design should be incorporated into the current "best practice" for the construction of these devices.

Towards the development of a standard test procedure for mouthguard assessment.

A simulated upper jaw, made from a rubber arch containing replaceable ceramic teeth and a renewable composite jawbone, offers promise in assessing the performance of custom made mouthguard designs. Impact tests, involving precise assessment of jaw and tooth fractures caused by projectiles of various energies and profiles, simulate conditions that approximate to common clinical observation. Such conditions offer the most sensitive indices for assessing both improved mouthguard designs and product quality and reliability. Damage caused by the dissipation of the impact energy may be transferred within this simulated oral cavity by minor changes to the impact conditions.