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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Howard F. Pollick, BDS, MPH, Preventive & Restorative Dental Sciences, University of California San Francisco, School of Dentistry, 707 Parnassus Ave., Box 0758, San Francisco, CA 94143-0758, 415-476-9872, pollick@itsa.ucsf.edu
Purpose: 1. To assess the opinions of dental public health list serve participants on the need for consent for dental treatment needs screenings in public schools. 2. To review the literature on consent for health/disease screenings and associated risk/benefit. Methods: A request for opinions on the type of consent needed was distributed by email to the dental_public_health listserv *, following a discussion by several participants on the subject. A literature review of the consent process for dental screenings was conducted. Results: The majority of opinions favored a passive (negative) consent. Several participants opined that there were legal requirements for positive consent, while others have conducted screenings with no consent. Some stated that screenings were unnecessary while others pointed to the need for surveillance data for program planning. Some other health/disease conditions, such as vision and hearing, are screened without consent procedures. There is a lack of evidence of harm from dental screenings. Conclusions: Screenings for dental treatment needs are done in a variety of ways, while there is a lack of guidance on this subject. The results of this study indicate that dental screenings in public schools could be conducted without any consent procedures, while local standards may require otherwise.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Screening, School Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: University of California San Francisco, School of Dentistry
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.