Sebastian Evans

I am not particularly a morning person. I start to function best mid-morning, but I can work just as well in the afternoon. I occasionally do two or three hours at night as well. I get up around 7.00-7.30am. I haven’t got a routine anymore: first of all, I work from home and second, I’ve…

The headline above was the phrase that stayed with me on leaving a recent meeting at which both Jimmy Steele and Barry Cockcroft spoke about the Review of NHS dentistry. By coincidence, on the train I read an article by the Astronomer Royal. Forty years after men landed on the moon, he mused about why…

New contracts are like London buses – you wait ages then three come along together. The 1990 contract was for many years the ‘new contract’. Then came another ‘new contract’ in 2006. Now it appears there are two other ‘new contracts’ in preparation. Apart from the pilot contracts arising out of the Steele Report, the…

A new study suggests a common form of gum disease may significantly raise the risk of head and neck cancer. Researchers found that people diagnosed with head and neck cancers were much more likely to have chronic periodontitis than people without cancer. In fact, each millimeter of bone loss due to chronic periodontitis was associated…

A high court judge has given the go-ahead for a court challenge to fluoridation plans of Southampton’s water supplies. The move is a major breakthrough for campaigners fighting a scheme which has stirred controversy in its aim to improve the state of local children’s teeth. The fluoridation scheme has been criticised as ‘mass medication’ by…

I’m definitely a morning person. On a normal working day, I get up early, at 6.45am, to check my emails straight away – I have a lot of international communication from the Far East with which to keep up, so I need to read my messages as soon as possible. I always make sure there’s…

The evidence is growing that private dentistry has been bitten by the economic downturn. For the most part it appears to have been a flesh wound, although at one end there are practices who have been hit pretty hard, and at the other practices that are still busier than ever and can’t understand what all…

Cigarette smoking is well known to be a major cause of oral disease and over the last few years the dental profession has made good progress towards addressing this problem, with better training at undergraduate level. But there are still major barriers standing in the way of widespread adoption of smoking cessation intervention by members…

On 16 July, the report from the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes (An Bord Snip Nua) made a recommendation to suspend the Dental Treatment Benefits Scheme with a purported saving to the Exchequer of €92 million per annum. As I write this article a few weeks later, my initial shock on…

With every year that passes we are getting closer to a true 21st century practice. Although times may seem hard at the moment, there are plenty of relatively inexpensive items that you can add to your practice to help you move one step further to getting the practice of which you have always dreamed.  There…

Chernobyl Children’s Trust is a non-profit charity set up and run by volunteers to help children and families most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which occurred on 26 April 1986. The accident itself killed fewer than 50 people immediately, but it is unknown how many people will eventually die as a result of radiation…

The older patients we encounter nowadays differ from those in the past. We are living longer and healthier lives thanks to medical technology (US Census Bureau, 2005), improved care and nutrition, biomedical research leading to new treatments, and onset of chronic diseases at greater ages (Sahyoun et al, 2001). For example, the senior population in…

The annual retention fees (ARF) of almost 53,000 dental care professionals (DCP) have now been processed. Over 93% of those who were on the register at the time of renewal have paid this year’s ARF. Just over 4,000 DCPs have been removed from the register for not paying the fee, and 651 others specifically asked…

A new study has shown that the sophisticated structure of tooth enamel holds clues for aerospace engineers as they build the aircraft and space vehicles of the future. Professor Herzl Chai of Tel Aviv University’s School of Mechanical Engineering and his colleagues at the George Washington University applied varying degrees of mechanical pressure to hundreds…

A new policy on dental neglect in children calls for all dental staff to have regular training in child protection. The policy explains that a detailed assessment must be carried out in the event of suspected neglect. This should include dental and non-dental factors, as well as the clinical findings, highlighting the importance of training…

Department of Health figures released to MP Andrew Stunell show a 60% increase in tooth extractions in Stockport since 2003. According to the Hazel Grove MP, this is due to a shortage of NHS dentists in the town, leading to fewer regular inspections and treatment, and more extractions. Commenting, Mr Stunell said: ‘There is a…

Many Northamptonshire dentists cannot treat wheelchair users as their surgeries do not have the right equipment, according to a charity for disabled people. Ability Northants said it had received complaints from wheelchair users who struggle to get the same dental treatment available as able-bodied people. Director of the charity, Sandra Bell, said: ‘So many dentists…