Food allergens in oral care products

Food allergies are a growing concern, especially in Western societies and can dramatically impact the quality of life of affected individuals. In recent years, various food allergens have been introduced into the oral care industry to improve product properties and provide the best possible treatment. Since small doses of food allergens may be sufficient to trigger allergic reactions, the non-discrimination of the sources of certain excipients in the product composition can compromise the patient's health. Therefore, knowledge and awareness of allergies and product composition among health professionals are critical on behalf of patients’ and consumers’ health. This study aimed to ascertain the presence of dairy products (e.g., cow's milk proteins and lactose), cereals (e.g., gluten, soy, and oats), fruits, nuts, spices, shellfish, and additives as excipients in oral care products for outpatients and products for professional use in the Dental Office. Among the 387 surveyed products, the highest prevalence of food allergens was found in toothpaste, fluoride varnishes, and alginates, mostly in spices and fresh fruits. As food allergies may occur because of erroneous information or a lack of labeling on the allergen list, manufacturers should be more rigorous in declaring allergens on product labeling regarding the safety of consumers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

X-ray vision: the mental genealogy of the anatomy of the interior of the human body

Background: The concepts of the Young Person and of an Elderly Person go through an evolutionary diversification during the Human lifecycle and are permeable to diverse biopsychosocial factors involved in the definition of the lifecycle stages. Therefore, assessing this subjectivity in different stages of development and population fringes may be a determinant key factor to assist the implementation of successful disease prevention and health promotion strategies. Aim: The aim of the present study was to discern how Fine Arts’ college students of the Anatomy class mentally represent the inner morphology of the human body of the Young Person and of an Elderly Person. Method: For such, 126 students were asked to draw the interior of the body of a Young Person and of an Elderly Person. In all, 252 drawings were collected and analysed, based on a coding data grid designed for this purpose. Hence, a comparative analysis of these two different vital lifecycle phases was achieved. Results: The results suggest anatomical differences in the pictorial representation of the Young Person and of the Elderly Person, namely in the accentuation of the curvatures of the vertebral column, retrusion of the lower jaw and muscle flaccidity. Conclusions: Although the body schema was the same for all individuals, the body image was singularly depicted and linked to each individual’s history, representing a synthesis of his idiosyncratic perceptions, experiences and particularities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

X-ray vision: mental representation of the human body’s inner morphology

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited."The present study examines how undergraduate students of Health Sciences represent the human body inner morphology. A quantitative- and qualitative-based longitudinal study was conducted where 123 health sciences students were asked to draw the inner morphology of a Healthy Person and of a Sick Person in two separate moments: (i) before and (ii) after taking a Human Anatomy course unit. Those drawings were evaluated according to a content analysis matrix specifically designed for the purposes of the current research. A comparative analysis (before vs after academic training) of the collected data suggests atypicality of contents and a differential approach to the inner body at the structural anatomy level. Overall, Healthy Person representations show considerable younger individuals than those found in Sick Person representations. In most drawings, the body outline, which would represent the human body’s largest organ (the skin), is absent. Drawings also show a desexualization of the depicted bodies, for both representation types (healthy vs sick) failed to include reproductive organs. The pathologies most frequently portrayed in Sick Person representations were neoplasms of specific organs. Interestingly, the damaged organs were highly invested pictorially, in contrast with the lesser investment and amount of accessory organs depicted in Healthy Person representations.

Is the orthodontic smile considered as aesthetic in adult patients?

Distributed under Creative Commons Licence CC-BY 4.0In the last five years, pioneer studies were carried out in the Egas Moniz University Clinic surrounding the mental representation of the smile, centred on adolescent patients wearing orthodontic appliances, emerging with the results obtained as a new form of categorizing the perfect smile: The Orthodontic Smile. The present study is qualitative and exploratory and aims to understand the importance of the self-perception (mental representation) of the smile, now with the help of a new age range - Adult Patients. The sample consists of 100 subjects in the adult phase (25–59 y), namely patients wearing orthodontic appliances who were asked to draw two percepts about the self-perception of their own smile in two distinct moments: the first drawing, corresponding to before the wear of the orthodontic appliance (M1), and the second one, corresponding to drawing their smile after undergoing the orthodontic treatment (M2). The content analysis of the 200 drawings obtained was realized through a grid of content analysis, constituted by categories and subcategories. The patients also filled out a sociodemographic questionnaire, in which they responded to four open-ended questions in relation to the mental representation of the smile. Regarding the content analysis of the narrative, we highlight the fact that a Nice Smile seems to be mostly described as a Natural Smile and Aligned, being a motive for the seeking of dental treatment, primarily aesthetic issues, followed by functional considerations. When comparing the drawings before (M1) and after (M2) the wear of orthodontic appliances, the Category Broad Smile, is set up as the smile chosen as the most aesthetic. It seems that aesthetic motives represent the motivational power for the patient in the adult phase, when they decide to look for Orthodontic treatment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

X-ray vision: mental representation of adolescent’s oral cavity undergoing orthodontic treatment

Article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International LicenseIntroduction: Oral Hygiene is notoriously relevant in the context of orthodontic treatment; however, oral health self-care is often considered inadequate.Objective: The objectives of this study focus on the perception of the inner oral cavity in patients and seek the enabling of Self-care through the empowerment of their knowledge.Materials and Methods: 25 subjects were asked to draw the interior of their oral cavity before (M1) and after (M2) going through orthodontic treatment. The percepts were then quoted using a content analysis grid of analytical categories and subcategories that was created especially for this study.Results and Conclusion: The results are suggesting that there are differences in the level of investment with a diminution in the representations of the inner oral cavity after the wear of orthodontic appliance. In addition to this, the initial directive was seemed to not be fully perceived by the subjects as most of the patients represented the inner oral cavity as an Extra-Oral configuration followed with a Frontal View Smile.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Drawing as a process of psychic mediation along the child´s developmental trajectory

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).INTRODUCTION: The intrapsychic process of resorting to the symbolic is innate and prepares the child for the organization of his internal world. Throughout the child's developmental trajectory, its playful projective expression, allows us to assess the psychographically internalized stages of development. The present study aims to evaluate the mental representation of the concept of symbolism, size, and perspective of designed percepts along the developmental trajectory (age range from 4 to 12 years).METHODS: Patients were invited to produce two drawings depicting a Healthy Tooth and an Unhealthy Tooth. The qualitative content grid for the analysis of the drawings was originally designed to study the pictorial representations found in the sample. However, in this article, we only intend to present the results obtained regarding Symbolism, Size and Perspective categories that are part of the content analysis grid.RESULTS: Regarding the Symbolism Category, most respondents between 4 and 6 years of age, pictorially represented an Unrealistic Tooth, and from 10 years onwards there is a marked decrease in this pictorial (Un)Realism. Regarding the Size of Teeth Category, from 8 years old onwards the drawings seem to increase in terms of their dimension. When it comes to Perspective Category, the percept drawn in a 2D perspective clearly prevails, regardless of age.CONCLUSION: Results obtained in this study show that the mental representation of (Un)Healthy teeth are early internalized during childhood and the stages of psychographic development seem to be reliable indicators of the development of the mental representation of the child´s symbolism.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Será o sorriso ortodôntico considerado estético em pacientes adultos?

Introdução: Foram efetuados estudos pioneiros nos últimos cinco anos, na Clínica Universitária Egas Moniz, sobre a representação mental da boca e do sorriso em pacientes adolescentes portadores de aparelho ortodôntico fixo. Nos referidos estudos, concluímos que, a partir da análise qualitativa dos resultados sobre a representação mental do sorriso, parece emergir uma nova forma de caracterizar o sorriso perfeito – O Sorriso Ortodôntico. Objetivos: Pretendemos com o presente estudo relevar a importância da autoperceção da boca e do sorriso, ao nível da representação mental de um sujeito adulto que recorre ao uso de aparelho ortodôntico fixo. O presente estudo de natureza qualitativa e exploratória tem como objetivo compreender, assim, a importância da autoperceção da boca e do sorriso ortodôntico em sujeitos adultos. Material e Métodos: A amostra do estudo é constituída por 80 sujeitos no estádio da adultícia (25-59anos) (OMS,2018), nomeadamente, sujeitos portadores de aparelho ortodôntico que foram convidados a efetuar dois desenhos do seu sorriso em dois momentos distintos: O primeiro desenho remete para o Momento antes do uso do aparelho ortodôntico (M1) e, no segundo desenho, o paciente é convidado a desenhar o seu sorriso após o uso do aparelho ortodôntico (M2). Resultados e Conclusões: Os resultados obtidos sugerem que, os principais motivos que levaram os pacientes a procurar cuidados dentários parecem estar mais conotados com problemas estéticos, nomeadamente, a busca por um sorriso alinhado e esteticamente harmonioso

Oral health status of adult dysphagic patients that undergo endoscopic gastrostomy for long term enteral feeding

Background: Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) is required to maintain a feeding route when neurological or cancer dysphagia impact oral intake. This study aimed to evaluate the oral health and oral changes of PEG-patients without oral feeding for three months.Methods: Prospective observational study, with a PEG-patients convenience sample. Data were obtained before PEG (T0) and 3 months after gastrostomy (T1). Initial oral hygiene habits were collected through a questionnaire. Intra-oral evaluation was performed using: Plaque Index (IP), Gingival Index (IG), Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth Index (DMF), Community Periodontal Index (CPI), and Attachment Loss (AL). T0 and T1 were compared to evaluate oral health evolution.Results: Thirty-nine patients aged 65.3 ± 17.4 years were included. Initial (T0) oral health was worse than expectable. Between assessments period, oral indexes suffered a general deterioration with statistical relevance to the DMF. The frequency of deep periodontal pockets and attachment loss remained stable.Conclusions: PEG-patients presented poor oral health and insufficient oral hygiene habits, even before gastrostomy. After three months of PEG feeding, oral health suffered a general deterioration. This outcome was probably associated with the absence of oral feeding activity, which is beneficial to oral homeostasis, and further reduced oral hygiene. Improved oral daily care and dental appointments should become part of the PEG-patients follow-up.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estudio de la degradación in vitro de la interfase adhesiva en dentina humana

Tesis Univ. Granada. Departamento de Estomatología. Leída el 6 de julio de 200