Quantity and quality of solid wastes produced in dental offices of babol city

Introduction: Dental wastes due to having bacterial disease-causing agents and toxic chemicals are categorized in hazardous wastes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quantity and composition of dental waste produced by general and specialized dental offices in babol city. Materials &Methods: From all dental offices (170 and 40 dental offices were related to general and specialized respectively) in babol city, 20 general and 5 specialized offices were randomly selected. Waste samples were collected three times a week (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday), 50 sub-groups were separated and weighted by a digital scale with accuracy of 0.01 gram. The data were presented by excel and word software in figures and tables. Results: The total wastes of general and specialized offices were 11829 and 2831.5 kg/year, respectively. The percentages of domestic-type, infectious, pharmaceutical and toxic wastes in general dental offices were 52.5%, 42.5%, 4.7% and 0.3%; and in specialized offices were 42.5%, 50%, 7% and 0.5%, respectively. Most components in a variety of dental waste included plastic, paper, plaster molds, glass and metal. Conclusion: Due to the large contents of plastic, paper, plaster molds, glass and metals in domestic- type and infectious wastes produced in the general and specialized dental offices, it is necessary to manage the wastes and their separation and recycling in source place

Tracing the success of scaling and root planning (SRP) in patients with chronic periodontitis by salivary nitric oxide

Introduction: Salivary biomarkers may elucidate orodental inflammatory processes. Nitric oxide (NO) may help us to diagnose such changes. Methods: In this case-control study, all referral patients diagnosed with 130% sites were enrolled as generalized mild to moderate periodontitis group (PG). All PG and healthy control group (CG)’ individuals underwent scaling and root planning (SRP). The periodontal indices were recorded at baseline (day0) in both PG and CG, in addition to 14 days after SRP (day 14) : salivary nitric oxide level on same occasions also recorded. Results: Twenty seven individuals were enrolled as PG and 17 individuals were assessed in CG. All indices were improved with SRP after 14 days. Except for NO, none of the periodontal indices subsided to the normal values of CG. Conclusions: Nitric oxide is a sensitive biomarker in tracing periodontal inflammation

Salivary VEGF-R3, TNF-α, TGF-β and IL-17A/F Levels in Patients with Minor Aphthous

Background : Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common mucosal ulcerative of oral cavity. Role of immune system, especially cytokines in immunopathogenesis of aphthous stomatitis was not highly considered. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of salivary cytokines, including VEGF-R3, TGF-&beta1, TNF-&alpha, and IL-17A/F in patients with RAS in two clinical stages, ulcerative and healing period. Material and Methods: In this case –control study, 18 patients with RAS (case group) and 18 healthy individuals (control groups) who were matched for age and sex, were selected. In both ulcerative and healing stages, unstimulated saliva of patients with RAS and healthy controls were collected. Levels of salivary cytokines, including VEGF-R3, TGF-&beta, TNF-&alpha, and IL-17A/F at each stage was determined by ELISA procedure and result were compared with the control group. Results: The levels of salivary VEGF-R3 in the ulcerative (5.92 1.87ng/ml) and healing (7.14 ±3.1 ng/ml) stages significantly decreased comparing with control group ( 9.71±2.24 ng/ml). Moreover, the level of salivary TGF-&beta1 in ulcerative (142.21±18.7 pg/ml) and healing (167.02±28.1 pg/ml) stages significantly reduced comparing with control group (178.35±55.67 pg/ml). In addition, our finding showed that both inflammatory cytokines including TNF-&alpha and IL-17 A/F significantly increased comparing to control group. The level of salivary TNF-&alpha in ulcerative (34.9±11.35pg/ml) and healing (28.09±9.07pg/ml) stages significantly increased comparing with control group (10.76±1.83 pg/ml). Also, the IL-17 A/F level in the ulcerative  (96.44±25.74 pg/ml) and healing (79.17±24.96 pg/ml) stages significantly increased comparing to the control group (53.47±13 pg/ml). Conclusion: Our finding in this study showed that the reduction of VEGF-R3 and TGF-&beta1 cytokines and increasing of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-&alpha and IL-17 A/F are effective in the pathogenesis of minor aphthous particularly in ulcerative stage.