Management of halitosis secondary to periodontal disease: report of four cases

Halitosis is an offensive odour emanating from the oral cavity and it is a common clinical condition. The purpose of this study is to emphasize the importance of the correct diagnosis of the type of halitosis in order to achieve a successful management. The four cases reported in this study revealed that a cause of the halitosis can be found most of the time following thorough examination. Elimination of the cause or source of the mal-odour eventually eliminates the halitosis. Dental practitioners should therefore be cautious in making a diagnosis of pseudo-halitosis and halitophobia which are very rare conditions and they should patients should be referred for expert management

A longitudinal study of the prevalence of gingival bleeding among selected Nigerian pregnant women

Objective: To assess the prevalence of gingival bleeding following gentle periodontal probing during pregnancy as compared to after child birth in the same set of women. Method: Three hundred and eighty-four consecutive pregnant women in third trimester were selected at the antenatal clinics of Adeoyo Maternity Hospital, and the University College Hospital, both in the city of Ibadan, south western part of Nigeria. An 18-item questionnaire was administered on the subjects to obtain information on their use of oral contraceptive prior to getting pregnant, their experiencing gingival bleeding at any point in time before or during pregnancy and their methods of oral hygiene procedure. This was followed by intra-oral examination to assess the presence or absence of gingival bleeding, which was determined by gentle probing of the gingival crevice with a Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN) probe. The appearance of bleeding within 10 seconds indicates a positive score. The same set of women were re-examined at two other occasions following child birth. Result: Seventy-two (20.9%) of the subjects reported that they had been experiencing gingival bleeding during toothbrushing before the study. Two-hundred and sixty-one of the subjects bled during pregnancy and this reduced to 192 and 127 at the 6th and 14th week post-partum examination respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the gingival bleeding on probing during pregnancy in comparison to the 6th and 14th week postpartum periods respectively (p = 0.000). Conclusion: The study shows that pregnancy must have played a major role in the tendency for the gingiva to bleed as there was statistically significant reduction in gingival bleeding following parturition

Omics-based molecular techniques in oral pathology centred cancer: Prospect and challenges in Africa

: The completion of the human genome project and the accomplished milestones in the human proteome project; as well as the progress made so far in computational bioinformatics and “big data” processing have contributed immensely to individualized/personalized medicine in the developed world.At the dawn of precision medicine, various omics-based therapies and bioengineering can now be applied accurately for the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and risk stratifcation of cancer in a manner that was hitherto not thought possible. The widespread introduction of genomics and other omics-based approaches into the postgraduate training curriculum of diverse medical and dental specialties, including pathology has improved the profciency of practitioners in the use of novel molecular signatures in patient management. In addition, intricate details about disease disparity among diferent human populations are beginning to emerge. This would facilitate the use of tailor-made novel theranostic methods based on emerging molecular evidences

Short communication - HEMATOLOGICAL VALUES IN JUVIENILE PERIODONTITIS PATIENTS IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

In this study, clinical and hematological examinations of forty adolescent patients in the group (15-22) years with established clinical features of chronic periodontitis but without any diagnosable medical disease were done. The patients were divided into two Groups (A &B). Group A were diagnosed as having juvenile periodontitis (JP) while group B had the plaque-induced chronic periodontitis i.e. non- JP and were used as control. We then compared the following hematological features between these two groups and the expected normal values here in the tropics; White Blood Cell (\VBC)-total and differential, Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and the blood film appearance. According to the general blood examination of both groups, almost all the numerical values were within the normal range as compared to the documental normal value in Nigeria. It was therefore concluded that low lymphocyte responsiveness, lymphocyte dysfunction and a deficiency of neutrophil chemotaxis as earlier reported may be involved in the pathogenesis of JP rather than the numerical value of these cells. The relationship of periodontal disease to other neutrophil functions such as phargocytosis and bactericidal activity requires further investigation

Iridium Nanoparticles for Multichannel Luminescence Lifetime Imaging, Mapping Localization in Live Cancer Cells

The development of long-lived luminescent nanoparticles for lifetime imaging is of wide interest as luminescence lifetime is environmentally sensitive detection independent of probe concentration. We report novel iridium-coated gold nanoparticles as probes for multiphoton lifetime imaging with characteristic long luminescent lifetimes based on iridium luminescence in the range of hundreds of nanoseconds and a short signal on the scale of picoseconds based on gold allowing multichannel detection. The tailor-made IrC₆ complex forms stable, water-soluble gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of 13, 25, and 100 nm, bearing 1400, 3200, and 22 000 IrC₆ complexes per AuNP, respectively. The sensitivity of the iridium signal on the environment of the cell is evidenced with an observed variation of lifetimes. Clusters of iridium nanoparticles show lifetimes from 450 to 590 ns while lifetimes of 660 and 740 ns are an average of different points in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Independent luminescence lifetime studies of the nanoparticles in different media and under aggregation conditions postulate that the unusual long lifetimes observed can be attributed to interaction with proteins rather than nanoparticle aggregation. Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF), confocal microscopy studies and 3D luminescence lifetime stacks confirm the presence of bright, nonaggregated nanoparticles inside the cell. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) analysis further supports the presence of the nanoparticles in cells. The iridium-coated nanoparticles provide new nanoprobes for lifetime detection with dual channel monitoring. The combination of the sensitivity of the iridium signal to the cell environment together with the nanoscaffold to guide delivery offer opportunities for iridium nanoparticles for targeting and tracking in in vivo models