A scanning electron microscopic study of the patterns of external root resorption under different conditions

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine if there are qualitative differences in the appearance of external root resorption patterns of primary teeth undergoing physiologic resorption and permanent teeth undergoing pathological root resorption in different conditions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 40 teeth undergoing external root resorption in different conditions were divided into 4 groups and prepared for examination under scanning electron microscopy at magnifications ranging from 20x to 1000x. Group I: 10 primary molars exfoliated due to physiologic root resorption; Group II: 10 permanent teeth with periapical granulomas showing signs of resorption; Group III:10 permanent teeth therapeutically extracted during the course of orthodontic therapy with evidence of resorption, and Group IV: 10 permanent teeth associated with odontogenic tumors that showed evidence of resorption. RESULTS: In Group I, the primary teeth undergoing resorption showed smooth extensive and predominantly regular areas reflecting the slow ongoing physiologic process. In Group II, the teeth with periapical granulomas showed the resorption was localized to apex with a funnel shaped appearance in most cases. Teeth in Group III, which had been subjected to a short period of light orthodontic force, showed the presence of numerous resorption craters with adjoining areas of cemental repair in some cases. Teeth associated with odontogenic tumors in Group IV showed many variations in the patterns of resorption with extensive loss of root length and a sharp cut appearance of the root in most cases. CONCLUSION: Differences were observed in the patterns of external root resorption among the studied groups of primary and permanent teeth under physiologic and pathological conditions

Evaluation of chemiluminescence, toluidine blue and histopathology for detection of high risk oral precancerous lesions: A cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early detection holds the key to an effective control of cancers in general and of oral cancers in particular. However, screening procedures for oral cancer are not straightforward due to procedural requirements as well as feasibility issues, especially in resource-limited countries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a cross-sectional study to compare the performance of chemiluminescence, toluidine blue and histopathology for detection of high-risk precancerous oral lesions. We evaluated 99 lesions from 55 patients who underwent chemiluminescence and toluidine blue tests along with biopsy and histopathological examination. We studied inter-as well as intra-rater agreement in the histopathological evaluation and then using latent class modeling, we estimated the operating characteristics of these tests in the absence of a reference standard test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a weak inter-rater agreement (kappa < 0.15) as well as a weak intra-rater reproducibility (Pearson's r = 0.28, intra-class correlation rho = 0.03) in the histopathological evaluation of potentially high-risk precancerous lesions. When compared to histopathology, chemiluminescence and toluidine blue retention had a sensitivity of 1.00 and 0.59, respectively and a specificity of 0.01 and 0.79, respectively. However, latent class analysis indicated a low sensitivity (0.37) and high specificity (0.90) of histopathological evaluation. Toluidine blue had a near perfect high sensitivity and specificity for detection of high-risk lesions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In our study, there was variability in the histopathological evaluation of oral precancerous lesions. Our results indicate that toluidine blue retention test may be better suited than chemiluminescence to detect high-risk oral precancerous lesions in a high-prevalence and low-resource setting like India.</p

Appraisal of elementary knowledge and awareness of oral cancer among dental and medical undergraduates

Background: Currently, oral cancer in India ranks among the top three types of cancer affecting mainly the elderly population. However, recent years have witnessed a marked increase in the younger people less than 45 years of age being affected by oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Thus, its early detection and treatment are of utmost importance and this responsibility lies with the healthcare providers. Therefore, we planned this study to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of oral cancer among undergraduate dental and medical students. The objective was to suggest strategies to improve awareness on oral cancer. Methods: A pretested questionnaire comprising nineteen questions were distributed among 193 undergraduate dental and 218 undergraduate medical students of our university. Fundamental questions were included in the clinical examination, risk factors and need for information lectures on oral cancer. Chi-square and ANOVA tests were used to analyse the data. Results: The response rate of the study was good with 91.7% (177/193) of the dental and 88% (191/218) of the medical undergraduates participating in the survey. Though dental students had sufficient knowledge regarding the prevention and detection of oral cancer, however, medical students were less aware of the investigative methods of oral cancer. Conclusion: Though the mean knowledge of the dental students was good, they were not confident of diagnosing the early clinical symptoms of oral cancer. Practices on detection of oral cancer have to be reinforced among medical students so that they can contribute to its prevention

JUVENILE OSSIFYING FIBROMA: NOT SO JEJUNE

&lt;p&gt;Juvenile ossifying fibroma (JOF) is a rare benign fibroosseous tumor which involves maxilla more than mandible. It usually occurs in children below 15 years of age. It is locally aggressive with significant growth potential which can raise fears of malignant pathology. This article reports a case of JOF occurring in the maxilla followed by surgical treatment.&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt

Peripheral odontogenic myxoma

Odontogenic myxomas are a rare benign odontogenic mesenchymal tumor found exclusively in the tooth-bearing area of the jaw and are usually located centrally in the mandible. Soft tissue localization is rarely seen and is classified as peripheral odontogenic myxoma (POM). POM is slow growing and less aggressive as compared to central myxoma. It has a low recurrence rate, comprises 3-6% of all odontogenic tumors. Only a few cases of POM on maxillary gingiva are reported in the literature. Here, we present an unusual case of primary POM occurring in the gingiva of anterior maxilla in a 14-year-old female patient