• Health Policy and Management
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.240-251
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• 2015

Background: Dentist's income is quite variable. We investigate the factors underlying the distribution of dental revenue and dentist income. Methods: Financial and structural variables of private dental practices(N=13,967) were examined with 2010 Economic Census microdata which include non-insurance revenue. We conducted quantile regression method(QRM) and ordinary least square(OLS) in treating skewness and heteroskedasticity of distributions. The effective estimation for the upper and lower range of distribution becomes possible by QRM. Results: Mid-career dentists are shown to have higher revenue and income. Male dentists achieve the higher revenue and income than female dentists in all quantiles. Group practices show lower income per owner than solo practices significantly. The revenue and income are increased with increasing size of clinics. The high cost in renting the clinic office is found to have a big positive effect on the revenue but a little positive effect on the income. Interestingly the density of dentists shows negative effect on the lowest quantile of the revenue but positive effect on the highest quantile. The lowest quantile of the revenue in the capital areas have the relatively high revenue. The lowest quantile of the income in metropolitan city show higher income than those in other areas significantly. Conclusion: The suggested QRM is shown to have more effective and efficient tool in finding out determinants of dentists' revenue and income of our concern. The results of this study are expected to be employed for dentists preparing for the opening practices in their organizational settings and locational selections. The distributional efficiency of dental human resources could be accomplished if policy makers guide dentists with this knowledge.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.971-984
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• 2016

The increase rate of dentists' competition is very fast at metropolitan areas in South Korea. We compare metropolitan and rural parameters to investigate the relation between competition and revenue variation. The competition and revenue variables of 73 metropolitan and 75 rural areas were calculated from 2010 Census of Service Industry microdata which include non-insurance revenues of dental clinics. Independent sample t-test results showed that the level of competition among dental clinics in metropolitan areas is higher. The lowest and the low ranked revenues are higher in rural areas. The highest and the average revenues are higher in metropolitan areas. But, 25 percentile and median revenues has no significant difference between two areas. Simple log linear regression results showed that the number of clinics could explain the distribution of revenues in both areas better than the density of active dentists and Herfindahl-Hirschman index. In the areas with many clinics have high maximum and average revenues and low minimum revenues. The increasing rate of maximum revenues is higher in metropolitan areas though the decreasing rate of minimum revenues is higher in rural areas. Metropolitan areas have higher Gini coefficients than rural areas, but the increasing rate of Gini coefficients is lower than rural areas. Findings from this study are useful reference when the dentists select the opening areas. One is that the median revenues between metropolitan and rural areas have no significant difference. The other is that the rural areas ensure the more stable and uniform revenues. The results would help to relieve the consumptive competition among dentists and to achieve the distributional efficiency of dental human resources.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.227-231
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• 2018

In recent years, as interest in maintaining beauty and a youthful appearance has grown, filler procedures such as soft tissue augmentation have become more popular. These fillers are sometimes seen as radiopaque shadows on radiographic images, either due to the fillers themselves or because of secondary reactions; such findings may present a diagnostic challenge to dentists. The present report describes 3 cases of dermal fillers observed in panoramic and cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) images. All 3 elderly female patients had filler injected into their cheeks and chin area for cosmetic purposes decades ago. On panoramic images, multiple symmetric radiopacities were observed in the facial area; on CBCT, these calcifications were seen in the subcutaneous tissue in various shapes and with varying density. In conclusion, dentists should be aware of the imaging characteristics of dermal filler, and should be able to differentiate dermal filler from other pathological findings.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.281-297
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• 2016

In order to make a treatment plan and outcome prediction, it is important to evaluate accurately and objectively osseous tissues of the implant area. The evaluation of osseous tissues is the most objective method for the decision of production time of upper structure of alveolar bone. However, the evaluation of osseous tissues contains contradiction because it is made by subjective opinions of dental surgeons. Many dentists also point out the problem of subjective evaluation of osseous tissues. Therefore, it is necessary to create accurate and objective standards. Previously, the evaluation of bone density depends on dentist's subjective sensation during drilling procedure of implant. However, the HU(Hounsfield unit) figure of CT(computed tomography) scan allows of objective and precise categorization of bone density now. Misch and Kircos divided the bone density levels from D1 to D5 with subjective separation of bone density. Their method also depended on not objective and quantification data but subjective separation by sensation. Thus, we need the evaluation of implant area through comparative analysis of more objective and quantification data. Implant treatment comprises the highest frequency of medical disputes of dental clinic. If we bring objective checkup and reasonable treatment method in the implant treatment, we can deduce more reasonable results, and the failure late of implant treatment also can decrease. The ultimate objective of this study is the minimization of dental disputes between dental patients and dentists by creating new legal standards on the basis of objective and quantification data.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.63-68
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• 2005

Recently implant has become an important field in dental clinic. Radiographic examination of pre- and post- operation is essential for successful treatment. Clinicians should have knowledge about the purpose of the radiographic examination, suitable imaging modality for the cases, anatomic landmarks of tooth and jaw bone, advantage and limitation of panoramic radiographic examination for implant, principle and interpretation of cross-sectional imaging, bone mineral density, post-operative radiographic examination. This paper will be helpful to get above informations for dentists who want to do dental implant successfully.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.359-370
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• 2011

To identify osseointegration of implants, dentists were performed the radiographic analysis. The fractal analysis methods using periapical radiographs before and after loading on implants was to evaluate whether or not significant. 30 patients who were placed implants in dental hospital of Wonkwang university were participated in this study. Total of 42 implants were analyzed. And, 14 males and 16 females aged from 22 to 73 participated in this study. The two morphologic and Fractal analysis of the one trabecular patterns in alveolar bone were done using periapical views. Two periapical views, after implant placement, and after 2 months of functional loading were analysed. The analysis was done by software, Image J(1.40s, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, USA). The data were statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA(P<.05). Multiple comparison was done by the Tukey HSD test. The results of Fractal analysis and change in bone density around implants showed significantly different values, especially mandibles. However, in case of implants with failure, Fractal values decreased from 1.2865 to 1.1521 and 1.1135 to 1.0478.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.153-161
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• 2013

Purpose: To prevent low bone mineral density (BMD), that is, osteoporosis, in postmenopausal women, it is essential to diagnose osteoporosis more precisely. This study presented an automatic approach utilizing a histogram-based automatic clustering (HAC) algorithm with a support vector machine (SVM) to analyse dental panoramic radiographs (DPRs) and thus improve diagnostic accuracy by identifying postmenopausal women with low BMD or osteoporosis. Materials and Methods: We integrated our newly-proposed histogram-based automatic clustering (HAC) algorithm with our previously-designed computer-aided diagnosis system. The extracted moment-based features (mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis) of the mandibular cortical width for the radial basis function (RBF) SVM classifier were employed. We also compared the diagnostic efficacy of the SVM model with the back propagation (BP) neural network model. In this study, DPRs and BMD measurements of 100 postmenopausal women patients (aged >50 years), with no previous record of osteoporosis, were randomly selected for inclusion. Results: The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the BMD measurements using our HAC-SVM model to identify women with low BMD were 93.0% (88.0%-98.0%), 95.8% (91.9%-99.7%) and 86.6% (79.9%-93.3%), respectively, at the lumbar spine; and 89.0% (82.9%-95.1%), 96.0% (92.2%-99.8%) and 84.0% (76.8%-91.2%), respectively, at the femoral neck. Conclusion: Our experimental results predict that the proposed HAC-SVM model combination applied on DPRs could be useful to assist dentists in early diagnosis and help to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with low BMD and osteoporosis.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.247-253
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• 2013

Renal osteodystrophy(RO) is characterized by skeletal changes in patients with renal disease and developed as a result of alterations in the metabolism of calcium, phosphate and secondary hyperparathyroidism. Bony changes in the craniofacial region include decreased bone density, radiolucent lesions(brown tumors), depletion of cortical bone and loss of lamina dura, but such changes rarely occur in the temporomandibular joint(TMJ). We report an uncommon case of bony changes and pain of both TMJs in a patient with RO. A 41-year-old man with RO came to our clinic due to TMJ pain and sounds. Occlusal change was also reported. Radiographs revealed degenerative changes of the both condyles. The patient had medical history of renal cancer therapy and hemodialysis. The patient was diagnosed with TMJ arthritis of RO and referred for systemic management through medication of calcium and vitamin D and parathyroidectomy. At 15-month follow-up, most of TMD symptoms disappeared and second radiographs revealed that bone density and cortical thickness of the mandible increased and the skeletal outline of the both condyles became relatively clear. As bony changes may begin in the early stage of the renal disease, dentists should be alert to detect the sign of the disease. In addition, it is important to differentiate TMJ arthritis of systemic cause because the treatment protocol is quite different.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2002

Conventional intraoral radiography continues to be the most widely used image modality for the diagnosis of dental caries. But, conventional intraoral radiography has several shortcomings, including the difficulty of exposing and processing intraoral film of consistently acceptable quality. In addition, radiographic retaking that was the result of processing errors, may result in increased discomfort and radiation dose to the patient. Recently, various digital radiographies substitute for conventional intraoral radiography to overcome these disadvantages. The advantages of digital radiography are numerous. One of advantages Is the elimination of processing errors. In addition, the radiation dose for digital system is approximately 20% to 25% of that required for conventional intraoral radiography Another potential advantage of digital imaging is the ability to perform image quality enhancements such as contrast and density modulation, which may increase diagnostic accuracy. The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic ability of artificial proximal defects to conventional intraoral radiography, direct digital image(CDX2000HQ$^{\circledR}$) and indirect digital image(Digora$^{\circledR}$). Artificial defects were made in proximal surfaces of 60 extracted human molars using #1/2, #1, #2 round bur. Five dentists assessed proximal defects on conventional intraoral radiography, direct digital image(CDX2000HQ$^{\circledR}$) and indirect digital image(Digora$^{\circledR}$). ROC(Receiver Operating Characteristic) analysis and Two-way ANOVA test were used for the evaluation of detectability, and following results were acquired. 1. The mean ROC area of conventional intraoral radiography, direct digital image(CDX2000HQ$^{\circledR}$) and indirect digital Image(Digora$^{\circledR}$) were 0.6766, 0.7538, 0.6791(Grade I), 0.7176, 0.7594, 0.7361(Grade II), and 0.7449, 0.7608, 0.7414(Grade III), respectively. 2. Diagnostic ability of direct digital image was higher than other image modalities. But, there was no statistically significant difference among other imaging modalities for Grade I, II, III lesion(p>0.05). In conclusion, when direct and indirect digital system are comparable with conventional intraoral radiography. these systems may be considered an alternative of conventional intraoral radiography for the diagnosis of proximal surface caries.