Development of patient information leaflets for fixed, removable, and functional appliances for Arabic-speaking orthodontic patients

Objective: To develop Orthodontic Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) in Arabic. Material &amp; method: This study included five phases starting with Arabic translation of existing British Orthodontic Society leaflets; initial face validation with three orthodontists; content validation with ten orthodontists; final face validation with ten orthodontists, five postgraduate students, and ten patients; and re-translation to English prior to comparing the new documents with the original PILs to verify that all the necessary information were included. The content validity index (CVI) assessed item level (I-CVI) and scale level (S-CVI). Results: The three Arabic PILs were face validated with inclusion of mini-screws, rapid maxillary expansion, and interproximal reduction. Content validity was perfect with no item I-CVI < 0.80. The S-CVI/Ave for PIL Fixed Appliances = 0.98, PIL Removable Appliances = 0.98 and PIL Functional Appliances = 0.97. In the final face validation, the three leaflets received 100% agreement from all observers for consistency of leaflet format and style, clarity, readability and use of adequate phrases. Finally, the leaflets were re-translated and the information was checked by native English speakers to ensure the completeness of information. There were no discrepancies and face validity was excellent. Conclusion: Valid PILs for Arabic-speaking patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed, removable, and functional appliances have been developed

Optimal provision of distributed reserves under dynamic energy service preferences

We propose and solve a stochastic dynamic programming (DP) problem addressing the optimal provision of regulation service reserves (RSR) by controlling dynamic demand preferences in smart buildings. A major contribution over past dynamic pricing work is that we pioneer the relaxation of static, uniformly distributed utility of demand. In this paper we model explicitly the dynamics of energy service preferences leading to a non-uniform and time varying probability distribution of demand utility. More explicitly, we model active and idle duty cycle appliances in a smart building as a closed queuing system with price-controlled arrival rates into the active appliance queue. Focusing on cooling appliances, we model the utility associated with the transition from idle to active as a non-uniform time varying function. We (i) derive an analytic characterization of the optimal policy and the differential cost function, and (ii) prove optimal policy monotonicity and value function convexity. These properties enable us to propose and implement a smart assisted value iteration (AVI) algorithm and an approximate DP (ADP) that exploits related functional approximations. Numerical results demonstrate the validity of the solution techniques and the computational advantage of the proposed ADP on realistic, large-state-space problems

The effect of chewing gum on the impact, pain and breakages associated with fixed orthodontic appliances: a randomized clinical trial

To determine whether the use of chewing gum reduced the impact and pain of fixed orthodontic appliances

Orthodontists? preference on type of rigid fixed functional appliance for skeletal Class II correction : a survey study

Rigid fixed functional appliances are most commonly used to correct skeletal Class II malocclusions. The objective of this study was to assess orthodontists? preference of different rigid fixed functional appliances used in the U.S.A for correction of skeletal Class II malocclusions. A survey on use and preference of rigid fixed functional appliances for skeletal Class II correction was emailed to 2,227 members of the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) in the U.S.A. Frequency distribution of different responses and their association with demographic factors was assessed. Out of 140 orthodontists completing the survey, 110 responded as using rigid fixed functional appliances. Eight incomplete responses were eliminated from data analysis. 51.5% (68/132) orthodontists used rigid fixed functional appliances. The most preferred rigid fixed functional appliance was the Herbst appliance with 72% response followed by Mandibular Anterior Repositioning Appliance (24%) and AdvanSync (4%). There was no statistically significant difference in use of rigid fixed functional appliances between different age groups (p=0.284). However, the 40-54 age group used the most rigid fixed functional appliances in practice, followed by the 25-39 year age group and the 55-69 age group using these appliances the least. There was statistical significance between the type of practice setting one works in and the use of rigid fixed functional appliances in practice (p=0.022). About 52% of orthodontists use rigid fixed functional appliances to correct skeletal Class II malocclusions. The Herbst appliance is the most commonly used and most preferred amongst all rigid fixed functional appliances with a 72% preferred rate

Orofacial muscles activity in children with swallowing dysfunction and removable functional appliances

Swallowing dysfunction is a frequent disorder among children and refers to an altered tongue posture and abnormal tongue movement during swallowing. Removable functional appliance is one of the treatments applied by dentistry to correct this disorder. The aim of this study was to evaluate any differences on orofacial muscles activity in children with swallowing dysfunction with and without removable functional appliances. 68 children were eligible for the study and divided into the orthodontic group (OG) and the no-orthodontic group (NO-OG). Both groups performed a dental occlusion-class evaluation, a swallowing function test and a myoscan analysis in order to measure perioral forces (i.e. tongue extension force, lip pressure, masseter contraction force). Our results showed a significant difference (P=0.02) between OG and NO-OG for the tongue extension force, whereas no significant differences (P&gt;0.05) were found for the other parameters. Our findings suggest that children with swallowing dysfunction and removable functional appliance show orofacial muscles activity within the range of reference values (except for the lip pressure). However, we hypothesize that orthodontic treatment can achieve more effective results with integration of myofunctional therapy

A general equilibrium analysis of demand side management programs under the clean development mechanism of the kyoto protocol

This paper analyzes the economic and environmental consequences of a potential demand side management program in Thailand using a general equilibrium model. The program considers replacement of less efficient electrical appliances in the household sector with more efficient counterparts. The study further examines changes in the economic and environmental effects of the program if it is implemented under the clean development mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, which provides carbon subsidies to the program. The study finds that the demand side management program would increase economic welfare if the ratio of unit costof electricity savings to price of electricity is 0.4 or lower even in the absence of the clean development mechanism. If the program's ratio of unit cost of electricity savings to price of electricity is greater than 0.4, registration of the program under the clean development mechanism would be needed to achieve positive welfare impacts. The level of welfare impacts would, however, depend on the price of carbon credits the program generates. For a given level of welfare impacts, the registration of the demand side management program under the clean development mechanism would increase the volume of emission reductions.Energy Production and Transportation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Environment and Energy Efficiency,Energy and Environment

Early mandibular canine-lateral incisor transposition: case report

Purpose. The main aim of the present study is to present a case of mandibular transposition between lateral incisor and canine in a paediatric patient. Materials and methods. A fixed multibracket orthodontic treatment was performed by means of a modified welded arch as to correct the transposition and obtaining a class I functional and symmetrical occlusion, also thanks to the early diagnosis of the eruption anomaly. Results. Our case report shows that a satisfactory treatment of mandibular transpositions is obtained when detected at an early stage of the tooth development. Conclusions. The main treatment options to be taken into consideration in case of a mandibular transposition are two: correcting the transposition or aligning it leaving the dental elements in their transposed order; in both cases, the followups show a stable condition, maintained without relapses. Several factors, such as age of the patient, occlusion, aesthetics, patient’s collaboration, periodontal support and duration of treatment have to be considered as to prevent potential damage to dental elements and support appliances. The choice between the two treatment approaches for mandibular lateral incisor/canine transpositions mainly depends on the time the anomaly is detected

Does articulating study casts make a difference to treatment planning?

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether articulating casts in centric relation (CR) compared with intercuspal position (ICP) makes a difference to treatment planning. Design: Reliability analysis. Subjects: Ten orthodontists. METHODS: Twenty case vignettes were examined on three occasions: twice with the casts in ICP and once in CR. A series of dichotomous decisions were made relating to the treatment need and treatment mechanics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The changes in treatment decisions were examined. Intra-examiner agreement between the two hand-held cast assessments (H1 v. H2) and between the first set of hand-held casts compared with the articulated casts (H1 v. A1) were evaluated using the kappa statistic. The differences between the kappa statistics for H1 v. H2 and H1 v. A1 were then tested with the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank sum test. RESULTS: The only statistically significant change in the kappa score between H1 v. H2 and H1 v. A1 was for the extraction decision (P 0.007). No other statistically significant differences were found for the other treatment decisions, although trends were identified for orthognathic surgery and anchorage support decisions. CONCLUSION: Routine articulation of study models for all orthodontic patients is not supported by the results of this study. Articulation of the study models did not affect the treatment planning decisions in a meaningful manner. Further work with selected samples is required to determine if articulation is helpful for specific malocclusions