Dentistry today is changing because of new knowledge networks based on electronic technology. This book tells practitioners, administrators and educators what is happening in dentistry and how to use the full potential of new information technologies. Specifics such as existing machines, operating systems, software packages and user support groups are discussed. Aspects of standards for storage, access, and the use of information as well as its integration into the dental practice are covered. More general topics cover the impact of dental informatics on dentistry training programs, the dental manufacturing industries and insurance.

During the course of this year, 1990, dentistry will celebrate its sesquicentennial as a profession. In February 1840, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, the Dental School of the University of Maryland, was chartered by the Maryland General Assembly as the world's first dental school. In the same year the American Society of Dental Surgeons, the antecedent of the present day American Dental Association, was founded, also in Baltimore. In the previous year, 1839, the American Journal of Dental Science was initiated as the first periodic scientific and professional publication in dentistry, later evolving to the Journal of the American Dental Association. With the congruence of three fundamental elements which are essential to any profession--a unique program of education, a formal means to communicate and freely share new information, and an organization devoted to maintenance of professional ethics and standards through self-regulation--dentistry began evolving to its current status as a valued and respected health profession. From its birth and through the intervening century and a half, dentistry has been a profession heavily reliant on technology as well as science. Dentists variously are credited with the discovery and development of general anesthesia and the precision casting technique; and they make significant use of rotary cutting instruments, ultrasonics, laser technology, unique biomaterials, and intraosseous implants, to mention only a few techniques.

Swamps are for draining--for converting into housing projects and farmland. Or at least that's been the theory ever since European settlers rolled across the continent a century ago.

We've drained a lot of swamps since then. Nationwide, we've "reclaimed" _____% of our wetlands. In Kansas, where we've been particularly diligent, only 4% of our original wetlands remain.

Now we realize we needed them. Wetlands, it turns out, are vital pieces of the unfathomable, intricate system that sustains life on earth.

Among the wetlands that remain, a few are outstanding for their size, location, and role in feeding and sheltering vast numbers of birds and other wildlife. Cheyenne Bottoms, waystation for hundreds of thousands of migrating shorebirds, songbirds, and waterfowl, is one of the most important wetlands in North America.

Located in central Kansas, on the main migration highway between wintering grounds in South America and breeding territory in Canada, the 41,000 acre marsh called Cheyenne Bottoms is a critical refueling stop for migrating birds. It hosts 90% of the populations of five species of shorebirds as well as most of the remaining population of the endangered Whooping Crane and several other threatened and endangered species. Because of its critical role, it has been designated by treaty as a wetland of international importance.

In this book, ecologist/ornithologist John Zimmerman provides an introduction to the Bottoms that is at once personal, impassioned, and technically accurate. He describes the Bottoms from many vantage points. He talks of its history, from its formation 100,000 years ago to the fight to preserve it today. He describes the life there--the rich variety of birds, mammals, and reptiles to whom Cheyenne Bottoms is home. He tells of the jeopardy in which the Bottoms finds itself--buffetted by vagaries of weather, climate changes, irrigation and water rights, and politics. He also traces the grass roots effort to save the Bottoms that brought together conservation groups, garden clubs, grade school and high school students, and the state government. Finally, he talks about solutions, both long- and short-term.