The coronavirus (COVID-19) has challenged health professions and systems and has evoked different speeds of reaction and types of response around the world. The role of dental professionals in preventing the transmission of COVID-19 is critically important. While all routine dental care has been suspended in countries experiencing COVID-19 disease during the period of pandemic, the need for organised urgent care delivered by teams provided with appropriate personal protective equipment takes priority. Dental professionals can also contribute to medical care. Major and rapid reorganisation of both clinical and support services is not straightforward. Dental professionals felt a moral duty to reduce routine care for fear of spreading COVID-19 among their patients and beyond, but were understandably concerned about the financial consequences. Amidst the explosion of information available online and through social media, it is difficult to identify reliable research evidence and guidance, but moral decisions must be made.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing head and neck cancer (HNC) care by providing innovative tools that enhance diagnostic accuracy and personalize treatment strategies. This review highlights the advancements in AI technologies, including deep learning and natural language processing, and their applications in HNC. The integration of AI with imaging techniques, genomics, and electronic health records is explored, emphasizing its role in early detection, biomarker discovery, and treatment planning. Despite noticeable progress, challenges such as data quality, algorithmic bias, and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration remain. Emerging innovations like explainable AI, AI-powered robotics, and real-time monitoring systems are poised to further advance the field. Addressing these challenges and fostering collaboration among AI experts, clinicians, and researchers is crucial for developing equitable and effective AI applications. The future of AI in HNC holds significant promise, offering potential breakthroughs in diagnostics, personalized therapies, and improved patient outcomes.

Household isolation measures to reduce coronavirus transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in increased risk of domestic violence and abuse (DVA). DVA physical injury most frequently involves the face. Dentists, dental care professionals, oral surgeons and oral and maxillofacial surgeons all have a critical part to play in identifying patients experiencing DVA, who present with dental and facial injury, and in making referrals to specialist agencies. This paper describes how to ask questions about DVA sensitively and how to make an appropriate referral. Early intervention and referral to a DVA advocate can prevent an abusive situation becoming worse with more intense violence. It can save lives.

The iconic ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster, first designed by the British government in 1939, was based on the words of Sir Arthur Newsholme, Principal Medical Officer responsible for the whole of Britain. Sir Newsholme recommended that no action be taken against the 1918 flu pandemic as munitions factories and public services needed to remain open to help with the war effort.

Objectives Assess the feasibility of using the Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) intervention in a general dental practice setting and evaluating it using a cluster randomised trial design. IRIS is currently used in general medical practices to aid recognition and support referral into specialist support of adults presenting with injuries and other presenting factors that might have resulted from domestic violence and abuse. Also, to explore the feasibility of a cluster randomised trial design to evaluate the adapted IRIS.Design Feasibility study for a cluster randomised trial of a practice-based intervention.Setting Greater Manchester general dental practices.Results It was feasible to adapt the IRIS intervention used in general medical practices to general dental practices in terms of training the clinical team and establishing a direct referral pathway to a designated advocate educator. General dental practices were keen to adopt the intervention, discuss with patients when presented with the opportunity and utilise the referral pathway. However, we could not use practice IT software prompts and data collection as for general practitioners because there is no unified dental IT system and because coding in dentistry for diagnoses, procedures and outcomes is not developed in the UK.Conclusion While it was feasible to adapt elements of the IRIS intervention to general dental practice and there was general acceptability, we did not have enough empirical data to plan a definitive cluster randomised trial design to evaluate the IRIS-dentistry intervention within general dental practices.

Introduction: Dentists have an important role in reducing new HIV infections by early diagnosis and need to know how to treat patients with HIV and understand universal cross‐infection control. In many parts of the world, healthcare professionals struggle to provide care because of barriers including stigma and cultural attitudes.Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of a brief educational intervention in understanding/changing the views of dental school deans regarding the quality of the oral health and HIV/AIDS teaching and their willingness to undertake a curriculum review if appropriate.Methods: Questionnaires before and after interactive presentation to the deans of 30 Indonesian dental schools and discussion.Results: Only six of 30 dental school deans believed that their HIV undergraduate dental student teaching was inadequate before the intervention, but 29 of 30 deans recognised the need to review their curriculum after the intervention. Whilst the majority (24/30) felt that their HIV teaching was adequate, good or excellent, the majority also thought that their students would find it difficult to treat patients with HIV.Conclusion: The brief educational intervention was effective in improving the understanding/changing the views of dental school deans regarding the quality of HIV/AIDS teaching and learning at their own institution and engaging a willingness to undertake curriculum review.