Balancing the role of the dental school in teaching, research and patient care; including care for underserved areas

Inequalities within dentistry are common and are reflected in wide differences in the levels of oral health and the standard of care available both within and between countries and communities. Furthermore there are patients, particularly those with special treatment needs, who do not have the same access to dental services as the general public. The dental school should aim to recruit students from varied backgrounds into all areas covered by the oral healthcare team and to train students to treat the full spectrum of patients including those with special needs. It is essential, however, that the dental student achieves a high standard of clinical competence and this cannot be gained by treating only those patients with low expectations for care. Balancing these aspects of clinical education is difficult. Research is an important stimulus to better teaching and better clinical care. It is recognized that dental school staff should be active in research, teaching, clinical work and frequently administration. Maintaining a balance between the commitments to clinical care, teaching and research while also taking account of underserved areas in each of these categories is a difficult challenge but one that has to be met to a high degree in a successful, modern dental school.

Invasive plants: representativeness of research from tropical countries in the global context

Biological invasions threaten the native biota of several countries and this threat is even greater in the tropical regions that have the greatest biodiversity. In order to evaluate the representativeness of studies on invasive plants in tropical countries compared to the world, as well as the region of origin and habits of the most reported invasive plants in research, we analyzed the publications from eight of the most important international journals that address the theme, from January 1995 to December 2004. The articles on biological invasions were classified as theoretical or as case studies, and according to their approach, main question, where the study was conducted, region of origin and habit of the invasive plant. Case studies predominated, as did questions about the environment`s susceptibility to the invasion, the species` invasive power and the impacts it had. The most reported invasive species were herbaceous plants from Asia and Europe. Few articles address tropical environments and only one referred to Brazil. Most referred to North America and Europe. This small number of publications in the tropics indicates the need for a global projection on this subject and underscores the lack of consistent and organized data to understand the phenomenon and propose effective strategies to combat biological invasion.