Letters
C D A J O U R N A L , V O L 4 9 , Nº 3
Editor’s note: I have very fond memories of Dr. Wilson and his wife. When I would call his home to ask for guidance or to ask a question, his wife, Eleanore, would get his attention and bring him to the phone by calling out with great enthusiasm, “Mister Speaker!” It brings a smile to me even today.
A Gentle Hero
That’s how former ADA Trustee Dr. Rod Feldman described Dr. Charles Wilson when we spoke recently. Charlie recently passed at age 96 after a long and distinguished career where he certainly contributed to our profession. Charlie was in college when the Pearl Harbor attack happened and in 1942 joined the Navy. There were so many recruits that the Navy kept him in school until he was needed. The 812 program was developed to pay for dental and medical school so there would be enough dentists and physicians to care for the returning troops after the war. Although he wanted to be a physician, they sent him to dental school at the University of Missouri at Kansas City where he graduated in 1947. He and Eleanore moved to Fairfield, Calif., in 1950, and while setting up his practice, he was drafted for the Korean War. After two years of service, he returned to Fairfield. During his career, he served as the last president of CDA before reunification (November 1971 to November 1972). He was an ADA delegate, ADA vice president, CDA speaker of the house (July 1978 to July 1989) and many other leadership positions at the state and in his local component, Napa-Solano. His great sense of humor and skill made him one of the most popular and respected speakers. Dr. Feldman remembers vividly that at Dr. Wilson’s last session of his last house as speaker he
said, “I love CDA.” A sentiment that is felt by many, but not often heard. He also served as president of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce and was a longtime member of the Lions Club. Dr. Wilson was a large presence in dentistry. All those he mentored will always remember him with gratitude, respect and fondness. Fortunately, there are some members of our profession who truly make it better with their dedication and energy; Charlie Wilson was certainly one who did. He will be remembered with love by those fortunate enough to have known him. I am one of those fortunate ones. H e n r i k H a n s e n , DDS
Fairfield, Calif.
Need More Rigorous Presentation
The recent retrospective research report by Griffith1 confirms the importance of case series design studies based in community practice and offers a good opportunity to examine research methodology. The findings appear to reinforce the results of previous studies of conservative management of dental caries lesions in adults; however, in order for readers to accurately understand its implications, it would benefit from a more rigorous presentation. Helpful checklists are available to authors today that give international standards for this type of report.2 There are three important issues that a clinician should consider in evaluating this paper.
First, the report does not clearly state if the cases were consecutive. (There may be bias in whether the treatments were offered to all patients with teeth that met the inclusion criteria or whether all patients accepted the treatment. It was not clear whether all cases that were eligible were abstracted.) Second, how the cases were abstracted and reviewed is not clearly described. Was there a checklist or a review manual? How was the review calibrated and the reliability of the abstractor assessed? Were the radiographs reviewed in a standardized manner? What proportion of the radiographs were unreadable or missing? (These details help a fellow clinician feel confident generalizing from the reported findings.) Finally, the analysis is descriptive. An appropriate statistical model, likely survival analysis for clustered data, should have been employed and quantitative results presented in order to strengthen the conclusion that the results are valid. Such analyses require statistical adjustment for multiple teeth contributed by the same individual and also for varying lengths of follow-up. In addition, were any cases lost to follow-up? What concomitant treatment might have impacted the primary outcome? Without knowing the answers to these questions, the clinical reader’s opportunity to profit from the experience of this thoughtful and capable clinician is diminished. P e t e r M i l g r o m , DDS
Seattle RE F E RE N C E S 1. Griffith M. Treating deep caries in 277 adult teeth with silver fluoride. J Calif Dent Assoc 2021;49(1):13–17. 2. Agha RA, Borrelli MR, Farwana R, Koshy K, Fowler AJ, Orgill DP. The PROCESS 2018 statement: Updating Consensus Preferred Reporting of Case Series in Surgery (PROCESS) guidelines. Int J Surg 2018 Dec;60:279–282. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2018.10.031. Epub 2018 Oct 22.
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