Oral health knowledge and behavior among male health sciences college students in Kuwait

BACKGROUND: Health auxiliary personnel have an important role in oral health promotion when they graduate and start working in the health care system. This study aims to find out oral health knowledge and oral health behavior of male Health Sciences College students. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to all students at the male Health Sciences College in Kuwait (N = 153) during the academic year 2001/2002. The students filled the anonymous questionnaire in the class after the lecture. The response rate was 84% (n = 128). The questions consisted information on the general background, oral health behavior and oral health knowledge. RESULTS: Oral health knowledge seemed to be limited and very few background factors were associated with it. More than half of the students had visited a dentist during the previous 12 months, but only one third of students were brushing twice a day or more often. CONCLUSIONS: It may be concluded that the male Health Sciences College students seemed to have appropriate knowledge on some oral health topics, but limited knowledge on the others. Their toothbrushing practices are still far behind the international recommendation (twice a day) and also the knowledge, why it should be done so frequently also very limited

Survival of atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) sealants and restorations: a meta-analysis

The purpose of this study is to perform a systematic investigation plus meta-analysis into survival of atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) sealants and restorations using high-viscosity glass ionomers and to compare the results with those from the 2005 ART meta-analysis. Until February 2010, four databases were searched. Two hundred four publications were found, and 66 reported on ART restorations or sealant survival. Based on five exclusion criteria, two independent reviewers selected the 29 publications that accounted for the meta-analysis. Confidence intervals (CI) and or standard errors were calculated and the heterogeneity variance of the survival rates was estimated. Location (school/clinic) was an independent variable. The survival rates of single-surface and multiple-surface ART restorations in primary teeth over the first 2 years were 93% (CI, 91–94%) and 62% (CI, 51–73%), respectively; for single-surface ART restorations in permanent teeth over the first 3 and 5 years it was 85% (CI, 77–91%) and 80% (CI, 76–83%), respectively and for multiple-surface ART restorations in permanent teeth over 1 year it was 86% (CI, 59–98%). The mean annual dentine lesion incidence rate, in pits and fissures previously sealed using ART, over the first 3 years was 1%. No location effect and no differences between the 2005 and 2010 survival rates of ART restorations and sealants were observed. The short-term survival rates of single-surface ART restorations in primary and permanent teeth, and the caries-preventive effect of ART sealants were high. Clinical relevance: ART can safely be used in single-surface cavities in both primary and permanent teeth. ART sealants have a high caries preventive effect

The effectiveness of glass-ionomer sealants in preventing dental caries.

Contains fulltext : mmubn000001_443360235.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)RU Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 5 oktober 2005Promotor : Palenstein Helderman, W.H. van Co-promotor : Frencken, J.E.F.M.VIII, 101 p

Comparison between two glass-ionomer sealants placed using finger pressure (ART approach) and a ball burnisher.

Item does not contain fulltextPURPOSE: To compare in vitro marginal leakage and fissure penetration depth of sealants placed under finger pressure (ART) and a ball burnisher. METHODS: High-viscosity glass-ionomer hand-mixed Fuji IX GP and encapsulated Fuji IX GP Fast were used to seal 72 patent occlusal pits and fissures according to the ART approach or with the aid of a ball burnisher in surgically removed molars. All teeth were thermocycled for 500 cycles in water between 6 and 55 degrees C, then varnished until 1 mm from the sealant, submerged in 1% methylene blue for 4 hours, had roots dissected, crowns embedded in epoxy resin and sectioned before examination with a light reflection microscope. Marginal leakage at the enamel-sealant interface and fissure penetration depth was measured on a scale of 0 to 4. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in marginal leakage (P= 0.62) and fissure penetration depth (P= 0.46) between sealants placed using the application procedures. One of the operators scored statistically significant lower on the marginal leakage and higher on fissure penetration depth in sealants produced using finger pressure than with a ball burnisher (P= 0.01). All nine sealants placed by this operator using finger pressure and encapsulated glass-ionomer showed no marginal leakage. The mean fissure penetration depth of these sealants was 3.6 (SD=0.9)

Oral health in Syria

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the oral health situation in Syria in the last two decades and to propose recommendations for improvement of the current situation. The epidemiological data on caries of the last two decades did not indicate a decrease in the DMFT value of various age groups, nor was a decrease in the percentage of untreated caries apparent. The unequal distribution of oral health care continued to exist throughout the country, despite an enormous increase in the number of dentists from about 2,000 in 1985 to about 14,500 in 2002. The affluent part of the population is served with technically oriented expensive dental services. The public sector suffers from limited finance, the absence of appropriate technology in restorative dentistry and the lack of a community and preventive oriented approach. It is recommended to utilise dental hygienists in the public sector, since these auxiliaries if appropriately trained can offer the preventive and curative oral care wanted and demanded by the poor and that the government and the people can afford

Caries-preventive effect of resin-based and glass ionomer sealants over time: a systematic review.

Contains fulltext : 49243.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)INTRODUCTION: The difference in preventing dentine lesion development between resin-based and glass ionomer sealant materials is unclear. Two recently published reviews were unable to conclude on the difference because the comparison was an exclusion criterion in one review and there were statistical shortcomings in the relevant papers in the other (Cochrane) review. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present investigation was to carry out a systematic review on the caries-preventive effect of these two types of sealant materials under more liberal exclusion criteria concerning the statistical presentations in the publications. METHODS: Based on five exclusion criteria, the literature search in the electronic libraries PubMed and MEDLINE and the publications retrieved in the Cochrane review, revealed 12 eligible publications for analyses. A variety of glass ionomers and resin-based sealant materials had been applied in the included studies. Attributable risk (AR) was chosen rather than relative risk (RR), as used in the Cochrane review, because RR is very instable in a low caries population. RESULTS: There was no consistent pattern observed with respect to the caries-preventive effect of either resin-based or glass ionomer sealants. Therefore, it was impossible to calculate an overall AR. CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence that either resin-based or glass ionomer sealant material is superior to the other in preventing dentine lesion development in pits and fissures over time