Dental Approach for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by intermittent upper airway obstruction during sleep. It causes sleep fragmentation from brief arousal and affects social life by excessive daytime sleepiness. Moreover, OSA is considered a risk factor for cardiovascular complications and type 2 diabetes as associated features. The gold standard treatment for OSA is continuous positive airway pressure during sleep. However, if this treatment is frustrating to the patient or the apnea and hypopnea index is low or mild, alternative treatments for OSA must be found. One possible treatment is an oral appliance (OA) to improve the upper airway configuration. Dental clinicians have attempted to improve this respiratory condition caused by OSA by using OA, and at Tokushima University Hospital, OA therapy has been in use since 1993. Nishigawa et al. introduced a method to fabricate an OA and to investigate the effects of this therapy. In the present article, the method of OA fabrication was modified, and its effects were evaluated. Dental clinicians should have some knowledge about the mechanics of sleep and the management of sleep conditions so that they can cooperate closely with medical physicians. Thus, collaboration between the medical and dental fields can help patients attain healthy sleep

Data on bond strength of resin cement systems to CAD/CAM resin composite after aging

CAD/CAM resin composite crowns are inexpensive tooth-colored prostheses that have been widely used. However, bonding between CAD/CAM resin composites and resin cements could be difficult since the resin composite is highly cross-linked. There is limited existing data on the resin cements’ bond strength with different monomers to CAD/CAM resin composites. In this study, CAD/CAM resin composite was bonded to an SUS rod with three different resin cements following treatment of the bonding surface using the manufacturer's recommended primer. After storing the specimens in water at 37 °C for 24 h, half of them were tested immediately and half were thermocycled for 10,000 cycles in water for a dwell time of 20 s at 5 and 55 °C. The means of the tensile bond strength and standard deviations were determined for each resin cement and testing condition. The data were compared using two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni's multiple comparison tests at 95% confidence level

ミノガサナイデ ソノ ショウジョウ : アクセイ ビョウヘン ノ カノウセイ ワ アリマセンカ

Patients with orofacial symptoms caused by malignant diseases, which should be treated by medical doctors, sometimes visit dental clinics during the initial consultation. The delay of getting an accurate diagnosis will lead to poor prognosis including death of patients. Therefore, dentists should be able to notice some symptoms related to malignant diseases. The signs and symptoms commonly associated with such patients are as follows. 1) Numb chin syndrome, 2) Swelling of palate and neck without pain, 3) Trismus, and 4) Macroglossia. In this article, we report the process from the initial visit until the accurate diagnosis of the patient with such symptoms, and present some comments about the signs and symptoms that may give us clues of malignancy

シカヨウ レーザー ノ リンショウ オウヨウ ニツイテ

Several types of lasers have been developed and tried to be clinically applied to the oral area. Lasers have been used for various clinical practices, diagnosis and prevention of dental caries, treatment for periodontal disease, hypersensitive dentin, relieving pain, and root canal infections. The Er:YAG laser is the only dental laser that has the potential to ablate both dental hard tissue and soft tissue. In this report, I introduce the practical procedure of some cases using the Er:YAG laser, and discuss the utility of Er:YAG laser application on oral soft tissue or hard tissue

ボールミリング法で改質したβ-TCPセメントの諸特性への粉液比の影響

The authors have developed a β-tricalcium-phosphate (β-TCP) powder modified mechano-chemically through the application of a ball-milling process (mβ-TCP). The resulting powder can be used in a calcium-phosphate-cement (CPC). In this study, the effects of the powder-to-liquid ratio (P/L ratio) on the properties of the CPCs were investigated, and an appropriate P/L ratio that would simultaneously improve injectability and strength was clarified. The mβ-TCP cement mixed at a P/L ratio of 2.5 and set in air exhibited sufficient injectability until 20 min after mixing, and strength similar to or higher than that mixed at a P/L ratio of 2.0 and 2.78. Although the mβ-TCP cements set in vivo and in SBF were found to exhibit a lower strength than those set in air, it did have an appropriate setting time and strength for clinical applications. In conclusion, P/L ratio optimization successfully improved the strength of injectable mβ-TCP cement

フィンランド ノ イリョウ フクシ ブンヤ ニオケル ICT ノ カツヨウ

We visited to Institute of Dentistry at The University of Oulu to see a Finnish medical information system and to see on-the-spot welfare in August 2012. We report the use of the information communication technology (ICT) in the field of a medical and welfare in Finland. The need for interoperable health information system is most important theme in health informatics field. In Finland, the ministry of Social Affairs and Health initiated an implementation project to build a national, centralized health information archive. This Finnish system consists of a national health records archive, a national electric prescriptions system and a wab portal for citizens' access to personal health information. A national health records archive is the database of the citizen's medical information record. Any doctor can see the patient's medical information such as the treatment records and results of physical examination and blood test, outcome of treatment, and so on. An electric prescription is the system that helps to issue and sign the prescriptions electronically. This system is included in the pharmaceutical database. eAccess is called“ My own health”. All people can see the history of his/her prescriptions and treatment and his/her health records by eAccess. This Finnish system is still under construction. The goal of this project will be finished in September 2015. After integration of the Nations in EU, peoples move to the other country freely without VISA. A lot of people can move to the countries in EU easily. Therefore, the traveler with the disease may be increased. This Finnish system will be provided with their important medical record data for the doctor or dentist to help to treat their disease anytime and anywhere. In near future, we should introduce the health information system like the Finnish system for keeping our health condition. It is one of useful tool that the medical bill and medical malpractice will be reduced

強度と注入性に優れるβ-TCP基セメントへのジルコニア添加の効果

Injectable calcium phosphate cements (CPCs) exhibit many advantages as bone substitution materials. However, the strength of injectable CPCs after setting are often insufficient. In our previous studies, mechano-chemically modification of β-tricalcium phosphate cement powder through a planetary ball-milling process exhibited simultaneous improvement in the strength and injectability of CPC. Two plausible effects of this process are: changes in the CPC powder properties and zirconia abrasion powder contamination from the milling pot and balls. The objective of the present study is to separately evaluate these two effects on the strength and injectability of CPCs. The calculated injectability of the cement paste with and without the addition of zirconia powder were higher than 65% at 6 h after mixing. These values were much higher than that of the CPC paste without mechano-chemically modification, and similar to that of CPC with zirconia abrasion powder contamination. By contrast, the compression strength of the set CPC with zirconia powder additives were higher than that without the addition, and similar to that of CPC with zirconia abrasion powder contamination. These results suggest that the changes in the CPC powder properties due to mechano-chemically modification mainly affected the injectability of the CPC paste, and the zirconia abrasion powder contamination of the CPC powder affected the strength of the set CPC

Challenges and Improvements in a Workshop-Type Class in BYOD

医療系大学1 年生を対象とした実習型の講義「医療情報処理」が，個人PC を用いたBYOD (Bring Your Own Device) 環境でのワークショップ形式で，2017 年度前期と2018 年度前期に実施された。本講義は，前半は個人課題，後半はグループ課題となるよう設計されており，マナーやコミュニケーションの重要性についても学ぶ機会を提供している。BYOD 環境では，PC 環境の違いや情報リテラシーに対する個人差等が影響し，カリキュラム設計や教員側の人的資源に課題があったが，本研究では，グループ学習がこの問題を解消する可能性を示す。The workshop-type “Medical Informatics” classes were held with first-year dental students under BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) in the first semesters of 2017 and 2018. The classes were composed of two phases with personal exercises and group exercises. The group exercises aimed to provide opportunities for students to learn étiquette and communication skills. Under the BYOD environment, there were still some problems according to differences in the PC environment and individual ability. This research shows that it is possible to solve those issues with group learning

Challenges and Improvements in a Workshop-Type Class in BYOD

医療系大学1 年生を対象とした実習型の講義「医療情報処理」が，個人PC を用いたBYOD (Bring Your Own Device) 環境でのワークショップ形式で，2017 年度前期と2018 年度前期に実施された。本講義は，前半は個人課題，後半はグループ課題となるよう設計されており，マナーやコミュニケーションの重要性についても学ぶ機会を提供している。BYOD 環境では，PC 環境の違いや情報リテラシーに対する個人差等が影響し，カリキュラム設計や教員側の人的資源に課題があったが，本研究では，グループ学習がこの問題を解消する可能性を示す。The workshop-type “Medical Informatics” classes were held with first-year dental students under BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) in the first semesters of 2017 and 2018. The classes were composed of two phases with personal exercises and group exercises. The group exercises aimed to provide opportunities for students to learn étiquette and communication skills. Under the BYOD environment, there were still some problems according to differences in the PC environment and individual ability. This research shows that it is possible to solve those issues with group learning