Journal of Disability and Oral Health
- Cover Date:
- August 2007
- Print ISSN:
- 1470-8558
- Electronic ISSN:
- 1754-2758
- Vol:
- 8
- Issue:
- 2
Editorial - Pushing Boundaries
2007 is another significant year for the Journal. We have consolidated our move to three issues a year with an impressive array of original research from an international group of authors. For the first time, subscribers can access the Journal online at www.jdohonline.org, with a paper copy, or both, opening up access to many more readers. This is a distinct member advantage, allowing the subscriber not only the access to the current issue but to the archive of previously published material. In addition, this online facility enables members to access CPD online and if they wish, to set up their own CPD account for recording all their CPD without cost. At a time when Special Care Dentistry is expanding rapidly as a recognised specialty in many countries, a resource is required that is contemporary, peer-reviewed and authoritative. More and more countries are establishing education and training programmes in the speciality and access to the innovative, to good practice and to seminal papers in the discipline is essential. This is not only for the student but for the established practitioner as part of their continuing professional development. The decision of the Executive of the International Association for Disability and Oral Health to take up online membership for its members is therefore timely and to be applauded for its far-sightedness. Investing in its members is a benefit that will reach out and embed knowledge and good practice for special care patients worldwide. Pushing out the boundaries is essential for many reasons but two are especially important. In many countries professionals in emerging specialities often work in isolation and without access to publications like this and thus are unaware of the opportunities that they might bring to their patients. As well, encouraging the novice academic, the innovator in their field, the experienced clinician with a cautionary tale to tell, are impor tant functions of a scientific journal. We have a responsibility through our stringent peer review mechanism to bring the very best to the readership whilst at the same time cultivating and supporting those for whom scientific writing is a new endeavour. In time, papers in the Journal will come to be viewed as seminal; for example, the paper in the December 2006 issue on defining the population requiring Special Care Dentistry using the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. If Dentistry, let alone Special Care Dentistry, is to be recognised for the important role it has to play in overall health, then we need to push back the boundaries of how we work to be included. For too long Dentistry has argued that it needs to be considered different and must be a special, separate case, without using the opportunities we have to be part of the wider healthcare team and work towards the ‘common risk’ approach; to put oral healthcare in context. Papers like this give us the framework to do that. It is imperative that, for our patients at least, we take up this challenge. June Nunn Dublin July 2007
- Article Price
- £15.00
- Institution Article Price
- £15.00
- Page Start
- 50
- Page End
- 50
- Authors
- J H Nunn
Articles from this issue
- Title
- Pg. Start
- Pg. End
- Referral patterns and access to dental services of people affected by homelessness in Dublin, Ireland
- 51
- 56
- An audit of patient assessment and treatment outcomes in anxious patients referred for conscious sedation
- 57
- 62
- Descriptive study of factors modifying the periodontal status of a population of people with a learning disability in Spain
- 73
- 80