ABSTRACT
Dentists who wish to introduce a computer based patient record system in their office are confronted with a lack of information concerning the selection of dental software. As wishes and demands concerning the content and options given by a dental computer program can vary widely from dentist to dentist and as dental software is changing rapidly a global objective evaluation is of no practical validity. Therefore a list of general and specific selection criteria was developed, enabling the practitioner to make a personal, objective comparison of quality of content versus wishes, price and service of different dental software programs. The criteria are discussed in this article.
Subject(s)
Information Systems , Practice Management, Dental , Software , Computer Peripherals , Database Management Systems , Decision Making , Guidelines as Topic , Humans , Medical Records Systems, Computerized , User-Computer InterfaceABSTRACT
Serum IgG, IgA and IgM and salivary IgA antibody levels reactive with extracts from Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Eubacterium saburreum and Streptococcus mutans, were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in samples from 12 persons before, during and after experimental gingivitis. The participants refrained from cleaning their teeth until 50% of their gingival units showed bleeding after gentle probing, but not longer than 15 days. Samples were taken from serum and saliva, before and during the period of experimental gingivitis, and up to 8 weeks after the start of the experiment. A pattern with minor fluctuations in specific serum and salivary antibody activities was consistently found in all patients. This indicates that immunoregulatory mechanisms succeed in maintaining unchanged antibody levels when plaque load increases. A subgroup of participants with low mean numbers of bleeding gingival units after plaque accumulation, showed significantly higher salivary IgA antibody levels reactive with S. mutans, A. actinomycetemcomitans and E. saburreum, as compared with the subgroup reaching high bleeding after probing scores (p < 0.05). When 1 person with outlying values (p < 0.05) for P. gingivalis was excluded from the tests, the former group also showed statistically significant higher salivary antibody levels to this bacterial species. High levels of salivary IgA directed against bacteria in dental plaque might thus protect against the development of gingivitis.
