Probiotics. Going on the natural way.

Science is providing us the tools to diagnose and treat the infection before it causes damage. For some decades now, bacteria known as probiotics have been added to various foods because of their beneficial effects for human health. It comprises knowledge of the relationship between diet and health and the effects of food ingredients on physiological functions and health. Probiotics are commonly consumed as part of fermented foods with specially added active live cultures; such as in yogurt or as dietary supplements. The potential application of probiotics for oral health has recently been the focus of attention for various health researchers. The number of products containing probiotics entering the market is increasing. These products usually contain streptococci, lactobacilli or bifidobacteria. The application of probiotic strategies may, in near future provide an end to many infections occurring in oral cavity. This article summarizes the currently available data on the potential benefits of probiotics for oral health and potential risks associated with them

Oral Myiasis: a review

Myiasis is the infestation of tissues, organs of living vertebrate, animals and humans by certain dipterans fly larvae which feed on the host’s tissues and body fluids, often causing extensive damage to the host tissues if left untreated. Oral Myiasis is a rare pathology and is associated with poor oral hygiene, alcoholism, senility, suppurating lesions, severe halitosis. It arises from invasion of body tissues or cavities of living animals by maggots or larvae of certain species of flies. It occurs in tropical areas with poor living conditions and insufficient public and personal hygiene. Mouth-breathing during sleep, alcoholism, mental handicap, cerebral palsy and hemiplegia may facilitate the development of myiasis. The commonest clinical manifestations of myiasis infestation include inflammatory and allergic reactions. Ear, eye and respiratory tract infestations are also frequently encountered. Human myiasis may affect the skin, bones, intestines and body cavities. Treatment consists of manual removal of maggots, broad spectrum antibiotics and oral therapy with Ivermecti

Osteosarcoma of maxilla: a case report

Osteosarcoma is a common primary malignant bone tumor producing osteoid or bone. It occurs very infrequently in the jaws and comprises of 4% of the tumour number as compared to the osteosarcoma of the long bones. Os- teosarcoma of the maxilla is even rarer presenting with common clinical features of pain and swelling. This pre- sented case is a rare case of osteosarcoma of maxilla in a 21-year-old female patient. Diagnosis and pre-operative assessment was performed using a combination of intraoral periapical radiograph, occlusal radiograph, paranasal view and computed tomography (CT). CT revealed destruction of the walls of maxillary sinus and sunray type of ossification in the soft tissues. Conformation was done with histology report followed by surgical removal of the tumor with safety margins. Dental professionals may be the first to detect jaw osteosarcomas in their initial stages. Regardless of the favourable biological behaviour, the patients of jaw osteosarcoma usually exhibit advanced tumor as it often goes unnoticed by the dental professional thus stressing on the need for early diagnosis of the lesion. The aim of this case report is to draw attention to the possibility of diagnosing this tumor based on clinical and radio- graphical characteristics before confirmation by histology

Sonoporation, a redefined ultrasound modality as therapeutic aid: a review.

Traditionally a diagnostic modality, ultrasound is emerging as a promising tool for non-invasive therapy, drug delivery, and gene therapy. The ultrasound is a mechanical wave energy generated in a medium as oscillating pressure in space and time at frequencies above 20 kHz, beyond the audible range. The ultrasound exposure generates bioeffects resulting in tissue heating, shear stress, and cavitation, which have been exploited for therapeutic applications. Ultrasound cavitation, enhanced by injected micro bubbles, perturbs cell membrane structures to cause sonoporation and increases the permeability to bioactive materials. Ultrasound-mediated gene delivery has been applied to heart, blood vessel, lung, kidney, muscle, head and neck tumour with enhanced gene transfection efficiency. The genes can be incorporated into microbubbles which in turn can target a specific disease site. Local drug delivery ensures sufficient drug concentration at the diseased region while limiting toxicity for healthy tissues. Nevertheless, it has only recently become popular as a technique to enhance drug release from drug delivery systems. This review presents the main findings in the field of sonoporation, namely drug delivery, gene delivery and DNA transfer

Toluidine blue staining as an adjunctive tool for early diagnosis of dysplastic changes in the oral mucosa

Prognosis of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma depends on early diagnosis, despite advanced surgical techniques, the 5-year survival rate remains ~40-50%. Unfortunately, it is usually detected when it becomes symptomatic. This requires treatment which gives rise to a high rate of morbidity and mortality and, furthermore, early detection of oro-pharyngeal pre-malignant lesions is important to improve the survival rate and quality of life. Since dysplasia and in situ carcinoma contain much more DNA and RNA than the normal surrounding epithelium, the use of in vivo staining, by means of toluidine blue dye, is based on the fact that it is an acidophilic dye that selectively stains acidic tissue components such as DNA and RNA. Toluidine blue staining is considered to be sensitive in identifying early oro-pharyngeal premalignant and malignant lesions. In the present study, the use of toluidine blue staining was taken into consideration to identify clinically doubtful oro-pharyngeal lesions and to compare toluidine blue stain and with the histological evaluation

Therapeutic applications of ultrasonography in dentistry

Ultrasonography is one of the most common imaging modality used in dental as well as medical sciences. The use of ultrasonography when discovered was as a therapeutic aid, but in recent times, it has become one of the most common imaging modality next to conventional radiology. Currently, its use as a therapeutic aid has been rediscovered along with its association with other specialized imaging. The aim of this paper is to highlight such advancements in the field of ultrasonography

Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid – A Case Report

Benign mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic vesiculo-bullous eruptions, predominantly on mucous membranes but occasionally on the skin. The diagnosis is hard to achieve due to similarity in clinical picture with other vesiculo-bullous lesions such as pemphigus or bullous pemphigoid, thereby, posing a diagnostic dilemma for the clinician. Histopathology can confirm the diagnosis; however, corticosteroids can be started to relieve the symptoms while confirmatory reports are not available as it is common treatment for most mucosal lesions. After histopathology report, if diagnosis of MMP is established, anti-leprotic drug can be started along with corticosteroids. We report a case of MMP in a 43 year-old female who presented with difficulty in eating and pain in her mouth (buccal mucosa). Skin lesions were also present on legs and shoulder. Oral mucosal lesions were managed with anti-leprotic drug (dapsone), and topical and systemic corticosteroids. Such approaches not only result in immediate relief of symptoms and improved clinical outcomes but also provide a better quality of life for patients

X-linked ichthyosis along with epidermolysis bullosa

Ichthyoses are a heterogenous group of hereditary keratinization disorders that share in common the accumulation & shedding of large amounts of hyperkeratotic epidermis. Early reports of ichthyosis in the Indian and Chinese literature date back to several hundred years. X-linked recessive ichthyosis (XLI) is a common disorder of keratinization and affects males who inherit an X-chromosome having a steroid sulphatase genetic mutation. In the present communication we report a case of XLI and dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa in the same patient. To the best of our knowledge it has been reported only once before

Colposcopy: A new ray in the diagnosis of oral lesions

Oral squamous cell carcinoma is the most common cancer of the oral cavity. The survival rates for oral cancer patients will significantly be improved provided lesions are detected and treated at the infancy stage. Early diagnosis is therefore of paramount importance. Histopathological examination is considered as the gold standard in diagnosing oral lesions. Therefore, the selection for a biopsy site is highly significant. In this article, we present a current review of the colposcope and oral application of the colposcopy technique and its use as an adjunct in the early diagnosis of premalignant and malignant lesions of the oral mucosa. We stress upon the fact that colposcopy (direct oral microscopy) of oral mucosal lesions helps in selecting more representative sites for biopsy than routine clinical examination alone. Because of its precision, versatility, ease of use, and being a non-invasive technique, colposcopy might prove to be a useful step toward continuing to learn and improve the care for our patients

Evaluation of salivary calcium and salivary parathyroid levels in postmenopausal women with and without oral dryness

Objective: The primary objective of this study is to estimate and secondary objective is to compare the salivary calcium levels, salivary parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in postmenopausal women with and without oral dryness (OD). Materials and Methods: A case-control study was carried out on 80 selected postmenopausal women. Salivary calcium concentrations were assessed through Semi Autoanalyzer by Arsenazo III reaction. The salivary PTH concentration was measured by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Severity of OD was assessed by a questionnaire through which the xerostomia inventory (XI) score could be measured. Statistical analysis of Student′s t-test, Mann-Whitney test and Pearson′s correlation was used. Results: There was a significant difference in mean values of both salivary calcium concentration and XI score in postmenopausal women with/without OD (P 0.05) was found in salivary parathyroid levels in postmenopausal women in both groups. A positive correlation was found between the salivary calcium concentration and XI score in both case and control groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Severity of OD in postmenopausal women is associated with the high levels of salivary calcium. However, the correlation of severity of OD with PTH could not be established