Deborah White qualified with a BDS from the Victoria University of Manchester in 1976 and following experience in general dental practice and industrial dentistry, worked for many years in the Community Dental Service. Following a period of part-time study, she was awarded a Diploma in Dental Public Health from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1989 and a MCDH from the University of Birmingham in 1991.
Deborah joined the University of Birmingham in 1993 as a part-time researcher and moved on to become a full time member of staff in 1999. She completed her PhD in 2000 and, as Head of Dental Public Health, has research interests in dental epidemiology and health services research.
Deborah undertakes clinical teaching and clinical work in the salaried dental services in Birmingham. She also has a keen interest in dental team training, having been an examiner for the national dental nursing certificate as well as having a quality assurance role with the University of Birmingham BSC in Dental Hygiene and Therapy.
Adult Dental Health Survey 2009 – a national collaborative study of the current status of dental health of UK adults. This study is the fifth in a series of national dental surveys carried out every ten years since 1968. These surveys have provided an important picture of the improvements in oral health throughout the UK population.
Career progression and practising location of dentists – work has been undertaken to look at West Midlands’ dentists and the location of their practice and graduation. In addition factors affecting their choice of type and location of job have been identified. Geographical Information Systems have been used to identify the influence of dental schools on the practising locations of dentists. This builds on work that Deborah undertook for her PhD using GIS as a tool to analyse dental information.
Referral practices – work has been undertaken to investigate patterns of patient referrals from primary to secondary dental care and to identify relevant patient and dentist factors which are linked to high and low referral rates.
Burke FJT, Hill KB, Brown J, MacDonald EB, Morris AJ, White DA, Murray K. A quantitative investigation into the causes of premature retirement in dentists. Br Dent J (accepted 8.10.09).
Hill KB, Burke FJT, Brown J, MacDonald EB, Morris AJ, White DA, Murray K. A qualitative investigation into the causes of premature retirement in dentists. Br Dent J (accepted 8.10.09).
Hill KB, Morris AJ, White DA, McHugh S, Atwal R, Burke FJT. A comparison of Personal Dental Service (PDS) and General Dental Service (GDS) patients in terms of reported interventions, oral health and dentists’ perceptions. Community Dent Health (2009) 26(3): 170-176.
McCormick RJ, Smith R, Edwards D, White D, Langford J. The distribution of general dental practitioners with NHS contract numbers in relation to the distance of their practices from the seven dental undergraduate teaching hospitals in England outside London. Community Dental Health (2008) 25: 201-204.
Oliver R, Kersten H, Vinkka-Puhakka H, Alpasan G, Bearn D, Cema I, Delap E, Dummer P, Goulet JP, Gugushe T, Jeniati E, Jerolimov V, Kotsanos N, Krifka S, Levy G, Neway M, Ogawa T, Saag M, Sidlauskas A, Skaleric U, Vervoon M, White D. Curriculum Structure: principles and strategy. European Journal of Dental Education (2008) 12(Supp1): 74-84.