A case of sleep bruxism treated through behavioural change using hypnosis

The mouth has been a natural site for release of stress. Right from the time of birth, a new born child cries and attracts attention of parents during stress. As the child grows, they spit and bite to release stress and frustration. As an adult, the same child uses abusive language, alcohol, smokes, and uses drugs (all orally) to release stress. Clenching, grinding, and bruxism are also a form of stress release using the oral route. Dentist is the first to detect such habit, and treat such cases with habit breaking appliances, which usually fail. This article highlights the need to refer cases for psychiatric treatment and hypnotherapy may be a choice of treatment. A female aged 26 year, reported with pain in all her teeth due to bruxism. All conventional dental treatments failed. This outlined a strong psychological component, hence hypnosis was tried. A 5-year follow-up showed no relapse

A comparative evaluation to assess the efficacy of 5% sodium fluoride varnish and diode laser and their combined application in the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity

Background: Dentin hypersensitivity (DH) is an age old complaint with a great number of treatment modalities, but none of these are totally effective till date. Lasers being one of the latest treatment options in periodontics, a study was conducted to test the efficacy of diode laser (DL) in DH alone and in comparison with 5% sodium fluoride (NaF) varnish. Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of 5% topical NaF varnish and 980 nm gallium aluminum arsenide (GaAlAs) DL alone and combination of 5% NaF + 980 nm GaAlAs DL in the management of DH. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 120 teeth in thirty patients with DH assessed by tactile and air blast (AB) stimuli measured by visual analog scale (VAS). Teeth were randomly divided into Group 1 (P) placebo-treated control group, Group 2 (NaF) treated by 5% NaF varnish, Group 3 (DL) treated with 980 nm DL, and Group 4 (NaF + DL) treated with both 5% NaF varnish and 980 nm DL (combination group). Results: There was a significant reduction in DH. The VAS reduction percentages were calculated, and there was a significant decrease in DH above all in G4 (NaF + DL) than G3 (DL) and G2 (NaF). Conclusion: Even though all the three groups (2, 3, and 4) showed improvement in terms of DH reduction, 5% NaF varnish with DL showed the best results among all the groups