ABSTRACT
As the information superhighway becomes clustered with various organizations sharing the hope of staying solvent with the aid of technology, managers in the health care industry are more and more looking to efficient Decision Support Systems (DSS). The focus of DSS selection has often been on evaluations that measure decision performance for determining the influence and efficacy of the tool. Such evaluations, in many instances, ignore pertinent measurements for a successful selection and implementation of a DSS. In this article, the authors present a simple but important set of evaluation factors that can "make or break" a DSS implementation in the health care industry.
Subject(s)
Decision Support Systems, Management/standards , Expert Systems , Guidelines as Topic , Health Services Administration , Contract Services/standards , Data Collection , Decision Making, Organizational , Humans , Information Management/standards , Needs Assessment , Software Design , Technology Assessment, Biomedical , United States , User-Computer InterfaceABSTRACT
Functional stability and the preservation of remaining alveolar bone are primary, and often elusive, goals when restoring the partially edentulous arch. The incorporation of dental implants for the partial support of removable prostheses offers a practical adjunct in the fulfillment of these objectives. Planning for complex courses of treatment that include dental implants requires close coordination between the surgeon and the restorative dentist. Decisions that deal with type, location, size, number of implant fixtures, and design of the prosthesis are critical. All of these areas must be discussed and established as acceptable to the patient and each clinician before the initiation of treatment. In this report, we present a course of patient treatment in which a removable partial denture is supported by natural remaining teeth in conjunction with osseointegrated implants.
Subject(s)
Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported , Denture, Overlay , Denture, Partial, Removable , Adult , Dental Prosthesis Design , Denture, Complete, Upper , Denture, Partial, Fixed , Humans , Jaw, Edentulous, Partially/rehabilitation , Male , Malocclusion/prevention & control , Mandible , Vertical DimensionABSTRACT
PURPOSE: A method of fabricating ceramometal crowns using gold copings produced by an electroforming process has been described, which purportedly results in restorations exhibiting an excellent marginal fit. This study compares the fit of electroformed ceramometal crowns with ceramometal crowns fabricated using conventional lost wax casting techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Electroformed and conventional ceramometal crowns were fabricated for prepared extracted teeth. Specimens were cemented, embedded in acrylic resin, sectioned, polished, photographed, and measured to compare marginal fit. RESULTS: Marginal fit of electroformed ceramometal crowns was superior to the fit of ceramometal crowns fabricated using conventional casting techniques. The difference was statistically significant at a P = .05 level. CONCLUSIONS: Crowns utilizing copings fabricated by electroforming methods appear to have a fit superior to conventional ceramometal crowns fabricated using copings made by lost wax casting. The ease in laboratory electroforming techniques and the esthetic advantages of a gold-colored coping can be capitalized on without concerns of a poorer fit.
