A pilot study regarding the consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare education in India and the implications

Introduction: The early approaches to prevent the spread of COVID-19 included lockdown and social distancing measures leading to university closures. These measures forced unparalleled changes to the delivery of healthcare education. Concerns included the preparedness of faculty and students to e-learning as well as the routine availability and funding of equipment and internet bundles. This needed addressing with fully trained healthcare professionals required given rising inappropriate use of antibiotics in India, growing prevalence of non-communicable diseases as well as patients with joint co-morbidities. Consequently, a need to ascertain the current impact of the pandemic on healthcare student education across India. Materials and Methods: Pilot study among ten purposely selected healthcare educators in both private and public universities. The questionnaire built on published studies. Results: Identified challenges included a lack of familiarity with online education, no bedside teaching, lack of equipment and affordability of internet bundles, poor internet connectivity and postponed examinations. Ways forward included faculty training on e-learning, providing students with loans and other financial support to purchase equipment and internet bundles, establishing COVID-19 prevention protocols and protective equipment, recording lectures and tutorials to make up for lost time, and simulated methods to teach clinical aspects. Conclusion: Despite the challenges, there was a rapid move to online learning among surveyed universities. Alongside this, courses to address lack of familiarity with e-Learning approaches with hybrid teaching approaches here to stay. The next step will be to undertake a wider study and use the combined findings to provide future guidance

Hypodontia: Prosthetic Rehabilitation with Integrated Orthodontics

Background : Hypodontia a condition where tooth / teeth are missing congenitally, has a great impact if the condition is involved for the anterior tooth since they affect the appearance of an individual. Facial perception is subjective to the alignment of the teeth in an arch - maxilla and or mandible. Alignment of teeth not only refers to proper positioning within an arch but it involves its relationship to opposite arch and its relation with the neuromuscular envelope. Adult orthodontic practices in recent times have reached its peak due to an increasing awareness among the adult patients regarding the possibilities of orthodontic solution for their oral rehabilitation. Oral rehabilitation among the adults is one of the challenging task for a general practitioner since it does not only concern replacement of what is lost but also concerns the integrity of what needs to be maintained. Stability and retention goes hand in hand if the rehabilitation done is integrated through interdisciplinary approach. This article highlights the interdisciplinary approach executed for oral rehabilitation of an adult patient where esthetics was of prime concern along with function

Evaluation of a Commercially Available Herbal Gel Containing Acacia Arabica in Chronic Generalized Gingivitis Patients

Background : The use of herbal drugs for the prevention and treatment of various health ailments has been in practice from the time immemorial. Acacia arabica is considered as an astringent, demulcent, aphrodisiac, antihelminthic, antimicrobial, antidiarrhoeal with good nutritional value in Indian traditional medicine system. This study was done to evaluate the efficacy of a commercially available gel containing Acacia Arabica in reducing the gingival inflammation in chronic generalized gingivitis patients. Materials and Method: The study included 15 subjects diagnosed with chronic generalized gingivitis. They were asked to apply the Acacia Arabica gel for 1 week before undergoing mechanical therapy. The clinical parameters such as the Gingival Index (GI) and the Plaque Index were taken at baseline and one week after application of the gel. Results: The clinical parameters were compared using the Paired sample t- test and the commercially available gel containing Acacia Arabica was found to be effective in reducing inflammation in patients with chronic generalized gingivitis. The gingival index score reduced from 1.94 ± 0.234 at baseline to 1.22 ± 0.196 after one week whereas the plaque score reduced from 3.82 ± 0.524 at baseline to 2.86 ± 0.520 after one week. Conclusion: Herbal gel containing Acacia Arabica has proven to be useful in reducing the inflammation as well as an anti-plaque agent