Children’s Social Perception of Peers’ Dento-Facial Condition: A Cross-Sectional Study

AIMS: This study aimed to compare the participant’s perceptions about their peers’ dento-facial condition with different incisal appearances (intact, discoloured, fractured, and avulsed incisors).MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among schoolchildren of both primary (8-11 years) and secondary (12-14 years) levels. Each participant was asked to judge photographs with one intact and three digitally modified central incisors giving the appearance of a traumatised tooth. Data on perceptions were collected for each condition using 12 attributes (8 positive and 4 negative; scored on a 4 point Likert scale). The positive, negative and total attribute scores were analysed separately by unpaired Student’s t-test. Repeated Measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc analysis was also used.RESULTS: A group of 587 children participated in the study. The perception for intact and traumatised incisors about demographic factors is well appreciated. Among the gender delineation, girls showed a significant difference in judgment between discoloured and fractured incisors. In comparison to intact incisors, positive and total attributable scores were found to be significantly higher (P < 0.001), whereas negative attribute scores were significantly lower (P < 0.001) for traumatised incisors. Pairwise comparison showed high significance (p <0.001) between the intact and traumatised incisor conditions.CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that visible dental trauma influenced the psychosocial judgment given by children towards their peers. This judgment would, in turn, affect their level of acceptance towards such appearances. Therefore, these conditions ought to be redressed as swiftly as possible.CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The primary purpose of this study was to highlight the psychosocial perceptions of children in judging their peers, regarding not only attractiveness but also intelligence, friendliness, confidence, outgoing nature, etc

Associations between Diet, Dietary and Oral Hygiene Habits with Caries Occurrence and Severity in Children with Autism at Dammam City, Saudi Arabia

AIM: The purpose of the study is to achieve the baseline information of the autistic child’s oral health status about the diet, dietary and hygiene habits. The association of these factors with dental caries were assessed.MATERIAL AND METHODS: The survey was composed of self-administered questionnaires to parents about their children's’ demographic data followed by questions related to diet, dietary and hygiene habits. This is later followed by oral examination for estimating the decayed, missing and filled [dmft] scores as per WHO norms. The variables are analysed using t-tests and ANOVA. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated for each of the independent variables to examine for autocorrelation.RESULTS: The mean age for the present study is 5.8 years with more predilections of caries in females. The autistic children prefer soft diet and pouch it in oral cavity resulting in increased caries though not significant. Other foods like nuts and pulses confectioneries and soft drinks resulted in increased caries, and our study shows significant relation. Consumption of sugars between meals and increased quantity of sugar per day also increased dental caries with highly significant results in our study. Hygiene habits also made a difference in the occurrence of caries though, in our study, it’s not significant.CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that the oral health education programs should be conducted for the parents, caregivers and the teachers about the diet, dietary and the hygiene habits and the role they play in maintaining the oral hygiene

Preliminary fabrication and characterization of electron beam melted Ti–6Al–4V customized dental implant

The current study was aimed to fabricate customized root form dental implant using additive manufacturing technique for the replacement of missing teeth. The root form dental implant was designed using GeomagicTM and MagicsTM, the designed implant was directly manufactured by layering technique using ARCAM A2TM electron beam melting system by employing medical grade Ti–6Al–4V alloy powder. Furthermore, the fabricated implant was characterized in terms of certain clinically important parameters such as surface microstructure, surface topography, chemical purity and internal porosity. Results confirmed that, fabrication of customized dental implants using additive rapid manufacturing technology offers an attractive method to produce extremely pure form of customized titanium dental implants, the rough and porous surface texture obtained is expected to provide better initial implant stabilization and superior osseointegration

Applications of raman spectroscopy in dentistry part II: Soft tissue analysis

Raman spectroscopy is rapidly moving from an experimental technique for the analysis of biological molecules to a tool for the real-time clinical diagnosis and in situ evaluation of the oral tissue in medical and dental research. The purpose of this study is to identify various applications of Raman spectroscopy, to evaluate the contemporary status and to explore future directions in the field of dentistry. Several in-depth applications are presented to illustrate Raman spectroscopy in early diagnosis of soft tissue abnormalities. Raman spectroscopy allows to analyze histological and biochemical composition of biological tissues. The technique not only demonstrates its role in the disclosure of dysplasia and malignancy but also in performing guided biopsies, diagnosing sialoliths, and assessment of surgical margins. Raman spectroscopy is used to identify the molecular structures and its components to give substantial information about the chemical structure properties of these molecules. In this paper, we acquaint the utilization of Raman spectroscopy in analyzing the soft tissues in relation to dentistry

Intra-alveolar auto-transplantation to correct a single tooth rotation: A case report with four years of follow-up

It is uncommon for children or young adults to have rotated central incisors. The restorative options are to carry out an orthodontic treatment or root canal treatment followed by crown placement for their correction. Often overlooked and misunderstood, another treatment option in the intra-alveolar auto-transplantation where the tooth is rotated within the same socket to an appropriate position. This article highlights the overview of intra-alveolar auto-transplantation along with a case of rotated central incisor. A 12-year-old complaining of rotated tooth and wanted it to be corrected. On clinical examination, there was rotation of maxillary left central incisor with no history of any gingival and periodontal involvement. After obtaining the consent from the patient and his parent, intra-alveolar auto-transplantation procedure was carried out. After a four-year follow-up, the concerned tooth, had retained its vitality and showed no signs of relapse

Association between Body Mass Index (BMI) and Dental Caries among 6–12-Year-Old School Children

This study aimed to identify the association between BMI and dental caries in 6–12-year-old children. This cross-sectional study was carried out among 6–12-year-old school children and their parents. The data on Body Mass Index (BMI) and dental caries for study participants were included in the study. The association between BMI and dental caries was evaluated using SPSS software. The study comprises 400 school children (157 boys and 243 girls) aged an average of 8.9 years. The overall prevalence of dental caries was 84% in primary dentition and 75% in permanent dentition, with a mean DMFT and dmft (decayed, missing and filled teeth) of 2.85 and 5.48, respectively. There was a significant association witnessed between mothers’ education and BMI status. A significant association was also evident between decayed (d), missing (m) and filled (f) teeth and overall dmft with different BMI categories (p < 0.05). There was no significant association evident between DMFT and each category of BMI (p > 0.05). The dmft and DMFT within the four BMI categories by one-way ANOVA were highly significant (p < 0.001). Post hoc analysis helped us identify the relationship among the various categories of BMI with dental caries. There was a positive association evident between the BMI of the children and dental caries

Evaluation of pH, buffering capacity, viscosity and flow rate levels of saliva in caries-free, minimal caries and nursing caries children: An in vivo study

Background and Aim: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the pH, buffering capacity, viscosity and flow rate of saliva in caries free, minimal caries and nursing caries children and to evaluate the relationship of these on the caries activity of children. Materials and Methods: A total of 75 school children of age group between 4 and 12 years were selected and divided into three equal groups: Group I, Group II and Group III, consisting of 25 subjects each. Group I included caries-free subjects, Group II included subjects with minimal caries and Group III included subjects with nursing caries. Saliva samples were collected from all subjects and were estimated for flow rate, pH, buffering capacity and viscosity. Results: There was a significant decrease in the mean salivary flow rate, salivary ph and salivary buffer capacity and a significant increase in the salivary viscosity among caries-free subjects, subjects with minimal caries and subjects with nursing caries. Conclusion: The physicochemical properties of saliva, such as salivary flow rate, pH, buffering capacity and viscosity, has a relation with caries activity in children and act as markers of caries activity

Effect of the Addition of Varying Concentrations of Silver Nanoparticles on the Fluoride Uptake and Recharge of Glass Ionomer Cement

This study aimed to compare the amount of fluoride uptake and the recharge and release characteristics of conventional glass ionomer cement (GIC) without any additives in comparison to conventional glass ionomer cement supplemented with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) at two concentrations: 0.1% and 0.2% (w/w). A total of 60 specimens were used in this in vitro study. The sample was divided into six groups—including three groups without fluoride charge: Group 1 (conventional GIC), Group 2 (GIC with 0.1% silver nanoparticles), and Group 3 (GIC with 0.2% silver nanoparticles; and three groups with fluoride charge: Group 4 (conventional GIC with fluoride); Group 5 (GIC with 0.1% silver nanoparticles with fluoride); Group 6 (GIC with 0.2% silver nanoparticles with fluoride), where Group 1 is considered the control group and the other five groups are used as the test groups. The amount of fluoride released was measured on days 1, 2, 7, 15, and 30. The comparisons were made between the groups with and without fluoride and among all the groups. A significant difference in the amount of fluoride released was observed between the groups, with the highest amount occurring in Group 1, followed by Group 2; the lowest amount of fluoride released was observed in Group 3 (p < 0.05). The groups with fluoride recharge (Groups 4, 5, and 6) exhibited a higher amount of fluoride release than the groups with no recharge (Groups 1, 2, and 3); however, Group 1 has more fluoride release compared to all other groups on days 1, 2, 7, 15, and 30 (p < 0.05). The amount of released fluoride decreased from day 1 to day 30 in all of the groups in the study. Despite the antimicrobial and anticariogenic benefits of adding silver nanoparticles to GIC, it seems that fluoride release characteristics are significantly affected by the addition of this material. This may force the clinician to a compromise between the antimicrobial benefit of silver nanoparticles and the remineralizing advantage of fluoride