Anesthetic Efficacy of Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block: Conventional versus Akinosi Technique

Objective: Anesthetic techniques like the Akinosi technique were introduced to surmount the problems of the conventional inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) technique. This study aimed to compare the local anesthetic efficacy of IANB via the conventional and Akinosi techniques in patients presenting to the Maxillofacial Surgery Department of School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University.Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 80 candidates for bilateral extraction of mandibular molars. For each patient, local anesthesia was induced by IANB injection, which was done by the conventional technique in one side and by the Akinosi technique in the other side of the mouth. The allocation of technique to side was randomized. Time to anesthesia for the long buccal, lingual and inferior alveolar nerves (IAN), degree of pain during injection and tooth extraction and incidence of positive aspiration in the two techniques were evaluated and analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank and Chi square tests.Results: The mean time to anesthesia for the IAN was 2.82 minutes in the conventional and 3.05 minutes for the Akinosi technique. These values were 1.47 and 1.55 minutes, respectively for the lingual nerve and 1.43 and 1.56 minutes, respectively for the long buccal nerve. Four patients in the Akinosi technique and 12 patients in the conventional technique had positive aspiration. During anesthetic injection with the Akinosi technique, 72.5% were pain free, 18.8% experienced mild, 5% experienced moderate and 3.8% experienced severe pain. These values in the conventional technique were 51.3%, 27.5%, 11.3% and 10%, respectively.Conclusion: Considering the lack of a significant difference between the success rate of conventional and Akinosi IANB techniques, Akinosi technique seems to be a suitable alternative to the conventional technique since it is less painful and has lower risk of positive aspiration

The Risk Factors in Early Failure of Dental Implants: a Retrospective Study

Statement of the Problem: Despite the low failure rate of dental implants, recognition of the risk factors can enhance the predictability of failure. Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors for early implant failure. Materials and Method: This retrospective cohort study was conducted on two groups of patients, the patients with a failed implant before loading and those without a failed implant. Age, gender, implant type, implant surface, implant length, bone type, type of surgery (one- or two-stage) and immediate (fresh socket) or delayed placement of implant were the variables to be assessed in this study. Results: Out of the 1,093 evaluated implants, 73 cases (6.68%) failed in early stages. The two groups were significantly different in terms of implant surface, fresh socket placement, prophylactic use of antibiotics, and bone density (p 0.05). Conclusion: It seems that prophylactic antibiotic therapy, implant surface, bone density and placement in fresh extraction socket may contribute to dental implant failure

Study on the Carbon Footprint Reduction Through Recycling Activities in UTHM: Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic

Recycling is an excellent method to manage institutional solid waste and reduce the environmental carbon footprint. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented chaos and affected recycling activities in UTHM. Therefore, the trend of carbon reduction through recycling activities in UTHM was determined to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the trend of carbon reduction. The data was collected from the recycling center in UTHM and the carbon reduction was further calculated to compare the difference before and after the pandemic outbreak. The weight of paper products collected was the highest, accounting for more than 75%, while the weight of aluminium collected was the lowest, accounting for less than 1%. Furthermore, it was found that the trend of carbon reduction increased steadily in 2019. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the trend to plunge and approach zero in March 2020. Nevertheless, once the COVID-19 pandemic was under control, the carbon reduction trend improved and peaked again in 2021. In addition, paper products achieved the highest of the total carbon reduction at 5143.072 tCO2e while aluminium was the lowest at 0.357 tCO2e. The highest total carbon reduction was achieved in 2019 with 1980.168 tCO2e while the lowest was recorded in 2020 with 1220.932 tCO2e. As a result, the Covid-19 Pandemic had a significant impact on the recycling rate in UTHM, which resulted in a reduction in the total amount of carbon reduction.&nbsp

Comparison of Marginal Bone Loss in Simultaneous Versus Delayed Implant Placement Following Horizontal Ridge Augmentation with Autogenous Lateral Ramus Bone Block

Statement of the Problem: Alveolar ridge resorption after tooth extraction may interfere with optimal dental implant placement.Purpose: This study aimed to compare the marginal bone loss (MBL) and thickness of the buccal aspect of the augmented site in simultaneous versus delayed implant placement following lateral ramus horizontal ridge augmentation in the posterior mandible.Materials and Method: This prospective cohort study was conducted on patients who required horizontal bone augmentation of the posterior mandible using lateral ramus autogenous bone graft. Patients were divided into two groups of simultaneous implant placement (group 1) and delayed implant placement (group 2). Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were obtained before augmentation, at the time of implant placement, and 10 months later (6 months after implant loading). MBL and thickness of the buccal aspect were evaluated over time.Results: There were 18 patients in the group 1 and 16 patients in the group 2. Analysis of the CBCT scans demonstrated that the mean MBL was 1.21±0.35mm in the group 1 and 1.08±0.19mm in the group 2, with no significant difference between the two groups (p= 0.19). Thickness of the buccal aspect of the augmented site at the time of implant placement was 1.85±0.20mm in the group 1 and 2.16±0.29 mm in the group 2, with a significant difference (p< 0.001). However, data analysis regarding changes in the buccal plate thickness showed no significant difference between the two groups (p= 0.36).Conclusion: According to the results of this study, there was no significant difference in M-BL and post-operative changes in the thickness of the buccal aspect of the augmented sites with onlay lateral ramus bone blocks between simultaneous and delayed implant placement

Effect of pulsed electromagnetic field on mandibular fracture healing: A randomized control trial

Introduction: Currently, the pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) method is utilized for the treatment of nonunion long bone fractures. Considering the established effect of the PEMF on the acceleration of the bone healing process, we conducted this study to evaluate the effect of PEMF on the healing process in mandibular bone fractures. Material and methods:: This research was a randomized control trial (RCT) study. The sample consisted of patients with a mandibular fracture who were hospitalized in order to receive closed reduction treatment. The participants were randomly selected and then sequentially divided into two groups of 16 participants each (controls = 16, cases = 16). The patients in the control group received conventional therapy without any extra treatment, while the patients in the case group received PEMF therapy in addition to conventional therapy. For the PEMF therapy, patients in the case group received immediate post-surgery PEMF therapy for 6 h. Next, they received 3 h of exposure for the next 6 d, and finally, the same process was repeated for 1.5 h for post-surgery days 8–13. The maxillomandibular fixation (MMF) device was removed at post-surgery week 4. The patients in the control group, however, did not receive any extra treatment. The efficiency of the treatment modalities was evaluated clinically and radiographically. For the radiographical assessment, we employed a direct digital panoramic machine to calculate the computerized density of the bone, and those measurements were used for comparison of the results between the control group and the study patients. Results: There was no significant difference in the mean bone density values between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, the percentage of changes in bone density of the two groups revealed that the case group had insignificant decreases at post-surgery day 14 and a significant increase at post-surgery day 28 compared with the control group (P < 0.05). After releasing the MMF, a bimanual mobility test of the fractured segments showed the stability of the segments in all patients. In the case group, the mouth opening was significantly more stable than that of the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: PEMF therapy postoperatively leads to increased bone density, faster recovery, increased formation of new bone, a further opening of the mouth, and decreased pai