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Letter to the Editor

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  • Letter to the Editor
Uncategorized
    • By jopdent
    • 0 comments
    • June 9, 2020

Letter to the Editor

Flecker CA (1977), Letter to the Editor, Operative Dentistry, 2(3) 126-127.

Dear Sir:

I read with mixed emotions your editorial, “Expanded Duties: An Economic Fallacy” in the Winter issue. Since Operative Dentistry is a journal of potentially great value to practicing general dentists, I feel obliged to comment on your remarks.

Proponents of expanded duties are not “mainly government employees and academics” as you wrote. One need only talk to practicing dentists everywhere and listen to their thoughts and needs about expanded duty auxiliaries. Talk to those dentists who are seriously grappling with the problems of keeping fees in line, managing tremendously increasing office overheads while providing more efficient services, and treating greater numbers of patients. Do not talk to the men who have never spent the late hours desperately seeking the answers, nor to those who have simply given up, cut their staffs, their overhead, and their availability to 3½ or 4 days a week.

In your thoughts on the cost of training an auxiliary vs. the cost of training a dentist you rely heavily on the current working life of a dental auxiliary-a generous four years by your estimate. For 1977 that is true. But we may also assume that right now there is very little incentive and motivation for a person to attempt to make a career as a dental office auxiliary. Pay is low, hours long and hassled, and serious, well-thought-out responsibility seldom delegated. The ability to advance in the job is practically nil. Why should anyone aspire to a career in such an environment?

On the other hand, travel the country and visit some of the more progressive offices. Visit them and see the auxiliaries who are alive, fresh, exciting, and interested in their work. Watch them work. Listen to them tell about their job. Understand that they have well-delegated authority and they accept total responsibility for their tasks; understand that it is possible for them to think in terms of long-range career. Visit these offices in the cities, suburbs, and rural areas and realize that they are organized by honest, dedicated dentists who are seriously meeting the contemporary challenges head-on. Yes, you are right. Presently the work-life of a dental auxiliary is short, the turnover great. But it’s beginning to change and will continue to do so.

Your reference to Adam Smith and his wisdom in identifying the problems of overspecialization is worthy of consideration. But Adam Smith was speaking, writing, and teaching about the manufacturing industry. Dentistry is a service industry. As a nation we have just begun to apply the principles of specialization to services. The problems will undoubtedly surface with time. However, our ability to deal with those problems will also improve with time. The end result will be a vastly more efficient industry than we now see. Not one without new problems, but at least one that has responded to the needs of the time.

You are right when you say that “in the final analysis, there are human beings attached to teeth, and, in any event, human beings are not machines.” But the doctor’s role is working with those human beings; in communicating with them, in organizing a continuum of care for them, and in making the all-important judgment decisions relative to that human being’s dental treatment. Many of the mechanical tasks can be, and presently are, in many areas, dele-gated to less expensive operators without the loss of the respect and dignity the patient deserves.

Better methods of organizing new technology must evolve hand-in-hand with the technology itself. One of those means will be the delegation of chairside tasks to expanded duty auxiliaries. Fortunately-because it’s the patients’ only hope in receiving faster, more efficient dental care at a reasonable fee.

Sincerely,

Carl A Flecker, Jr

760 Medical Center East Pittsburgh, PA 15206

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In order to precisely identify contributors to Operative Dentistry, we encourage ALL authors and co-authors to register for their free ORCID number at orcid.org. Using this number in our system will auto-populate many of the author fields, saving time for the corresponding author and ensuring that the information being entered is according to the wishes of each author.

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Editorial

An Editorial can appear however the author chooses to structure it. We have printed editorials that are pure narrative to a research paper with all the sections printed as an opinion piece (not peer-reviewed).

Clinical and Laboratory Research and Invited Papers

CLINICAL and LABORATORY RESEARCH MANUSCRIPTS and INVITED PAPERS must include as part of the narrative:

• a title
• a running (short) title
• a clinical relevance statement
• a concise summary (can be in abstract form)
• an introduction
• methods and materials
• results

• a discussion
• a conclusion
• references

Reference Requirements

REFERENCES must be numbered (superscripted numbers) consecutively as they appear in the text and, where applicable, they should appear after punctuation.
The reference list should be arranged in numeric sequence at the end of the manuscript and should include:
1. Author(s) last name(s) and initial (ALL AUTHORS must be listed) followed by the date of publication in parentheses.
2. Full article title.
3. Full journal name in italics (no abbreviations), volume and issue numbers and first and last page numbers complete (i.e. 163-168 NOT attenuated 163-68).
4. Abstracts should be avoided when possible but, if used, must include the above plus the abstract number and page number.
5. Book chapters must include chapter title, book title in italics, editors’ names (if appropriate), name of publisher and publishing address.
6. Websites may be used as references, but must include the date (day, month and year) accessed for the information.
7. Papers in the course of publication should only be entered in the references if they have been accepted for publication by a journal and then given in the standard manner with “In press” following the journal name.
8. DO NOT include unpublished data or personal communications in the reference list. Cite such references parenthetically in the text and include a date.
9. References that contain Crossref.org’s DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) should always be displayed at the end of the reference as permanent URLs. The prefix http://dx.doi.org/ can be appended to the listed DOI to create this URL. i.e. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jmbi.1995.0238

Reference Style Guide

• Journal article-two authors: Evans DB & Neme AM (1999) Shear bond strength of composite resin and amalgam adhesive systems to dentin American Journal of Dentistry 12(1) 19-25.
• Journal article-multiple authors: Eick JD, Gwinnett AJ, Pashley DH & Robinson SJ (1997) Current concepts on adhesion to dentin Critical Review of Oral and Biological Medicine 8(3) 306-335.
• Journal article: special issue/supplement: Van Meerbeek B, Vargas M, Inoue S, Yoshida Y, Peumans M, Lambrechts P & Vanherle G (2001) Adhesives and cements to promote preservation dentistry Operative Dentistry (Supplement 6) 119-144.
• Abstract: Yoshida Y, Van Meerbeek B, Okazaki M, Shintani H & Suzuki K (2003) Comparative study on adhesive performance of functional monomers Journal of Dental Research 82(Special Issue B) Abstract #0051 p B-19.
• Corporate publication: ISO-Standards (1997) ISO 4287 Geometrical Product Specifications Surface texture: Profile method – Terms, definitions and surface texture parameters Geneve: International Organization for Standardization 1st edition 1-25.
• Book-single author: Mount GJ (1990) An Atlas of Glass-ionomer Cements Martin Duntz Ltd, London.
• Book-two authors: Nakabayashi N & Pashley DH (1998) Hybridization of Dental Hard Tissues Quintessence Publishing, Tokyo.
• Book-chapter: Hilton TJ (1996) Direct posterior composite restorations In: Schwarts RS, Summitt JB, Robbins JW (eds) Fundamentals of Operative Dentistry Quintessence, Chicago 207-228.
• Website-single author: Carlson L (2003) Web site evolution; Retrieved online July 23, 2003 from: http://www.d.umn.edu/~lcarlson/cms/evolution.html
• Website-corporate publication: 
National Association of Social Workers (2000) NASW Practice research survey 2000. NASW Practice Research Network, 1. 3. Retrieved online September 8, 2003 from: http://www.socialworkers.org/naswprn/default
• Journal Article with DOI: SA Feierabend, J Matt & B Klaiber (2011) A Comparison of Conventional and New Rubber Dam Systems in Dental Practice. Operative Dentistry 36(3) 243-250, http://dx.doi.org/10.2341/09-283-C

Literature and Book Review Manuscripts

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• a title
• a running (short) title
• a clinical relevance statement based on the conclusions of the review
• an Introduction
• Materials and methods (optional – could be used to discuss the search parameters for a literature review)
• a discussion
• conclusions based on the literature review…without this, the review is just an exercise and will not be published
• references

Clinical Technique and Case Studies

CLINICAL TECHNIQUE/CASE STUDY MANUSCRIPTS must include as part of the narrative:

• a title
• a running (short) title
• purpose
• description of technique
• list of materials used
• potential problems
• summary of advantages and disadvantages
• references

Tooth Numbering

When referencing specific teeth, the Universal Tooth Numbering System is preferred. Authors may use the International Tooth Numbering System so long as the referencing remains consistent throughout the article.

File Merge

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Text Files

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The software will add line numbers to the reviewer draft of your article, but without page numbers you will not know to which page’s line numbers the Editor or reviewers refer.

Continuing Education Credit

Due to the logistical challenges of fulfilling our commitment to the principles and guidelines of the ADA CERP program, we do not offer author CE credit for accepted manuscripts.

All manuscript reviewers will receive 3 units of continuing dental education (CDE) credits for their review of each finite manuscript regardless of the number of, or lack of, revisions of that manuscript.

Operative Dentistry, Inc. is an ADA CERP authorized provider. ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry. Concerns or complaints about a CE provider may be directed to the provider or to ADA CERP at www.ada.org/cerp.

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PDF Conversion

The EditorialManager system will convert the files you submit into pdf files for the ease of electronic sharing. One of the steps of conversion is to merge all the files together, this step can take anywhere from 10 minutes to three hours depending upon the complexity of the paper. PLEASE allow the computer time to do this conversion before contacting our office reporting problems with the system; in almost all of the cases, patience will fix the problem.

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Clinical Trials

If the manuscript is a randomized, controlled clinical trial, registration of the trial with a public registry is required. Registration is expected before the study begins. A link to that registry must be provided WITH the submission as part of your cover letter (or author information statement). Operative Dentistry will no longer accept papers for review without this registry information.

Human Subjects

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The journal editorial board cannot make that decision, just as an individual investigator should not make that decision.

It is recognized that some jurisdictions have different expectations and requirements. If your manuscript uses animal or human subject derived data (including survey forms) or specimens of any kind (including teeth, saliva, tissues), evidence of IRB or local oversight committee approval that was obtained prior to beginning the study must be provided WITH the submission. In cases where your country does not ever require “permission” to use, for example, extracted teeth, there should be a written policy from the local human research ethics committee that states that no permission of any sort is required. A copy of that policy meets the journal’s need to adhere to international publishing standards as described by the ICMJE.

If the editorial staff determines that human or animal derived data was used to craft your manuscript, and no evidence of proper oversight is submitted, the journal will not accept the manuscript for review.

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ICMJE Guidelines

If any conflict arises with a submitted manuscript, the Editor will contact the Corresponding Author of the manuscript in accordance with the ICMJE guidelines.

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