Evaluation of the efficacy and quality of life in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders treated with Kovacs digital occlusal splint: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have been conducted on treating temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) with new digital occlusal splints, which has increasingly attracted wide attention. METHODS: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and quality of life (QoL) of Kovacs digital occlusal splint (KDOS) treatment in patients with TMD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-nine patients with TMD who were treated using KDOS were analyzed. The patients were divided into three groups according to the Wilkes stage. The clinical symptoms and QoL scores of the patients in each group were recorded before and at least three months after treatment, and the data were statistically analyzed and compared. The relationships between the disease severity, sex, age, and level of QoL before treatment and improvement in the clinical symptoms were analyzed using binary logistic regression. RESULTS: The mean age and follow-up period of the patients were 28.0 ± 10.4 years and 4.9 ± 2.1 months, respectively. After KDOS treatment, the improvement rates of joint noise and pain were 80.4% and 69.8%, respectively. Additionally, the patients' maximum mouth opening and global QoL mean scores significantly improved compared to those before treatment (p < 0.001). Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that the factors affecting the improvement in the clinical symptoms were disease severity and level of QoL before treatment. CONCLUSIONS: KDOS can improve the clinical symptoms and QoL of patients with TMD. Moreover, patients without osteoarthritis and with low pretreatment QoL levels are more likely to demonstrate clinical improvement. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered with Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) (ID: ChiCTR2300076518) on 11/10/2023.

Inhibition of miR-9 Combined With Cisplatin Targeting APE1 Against Angiogenesis in Osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a highly malignant tumor, and chemotherapy resistance suggests poor prognosis in OS patients. In this study, the authors discovered that miR-9 has a pro-angiogenic role in OS. The anti-angiogenic effects of cisplatin were greatly increased when miR-9 was suppressed in OS. In addition, the authors demonstrated that miR-9 plays a pro-angiogenic role by targeting apoptosis-inducing factor 1 (APE1) in OS. Importantly, our in vivo experiments showed that inhibition of miR-9 combined with cisplatin could suppress xenograft tumor growth by targeting APE1 and decreasing angiogenesis in OS. In summary, our results suggest that miR-9 plays a role as a tumor promoter, and inhibiting miR-9 and APE1 is a new strategy for inhibiting OS angiogenesis and chemotherapy resistance.

Analysis of Pediatric Maxillofacial Fractures: A 10-year Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to analyze patterns of maxillofacial fractures in children and adolescent in southeast of China,in a period of 10 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, the medical records of 162 hospitalized patients under 18 years old were analyzed in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatology Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, China. Age, gender, etiology, site, and type of fracture, monthly distribution, weekly distribution, dental complications, and treatment were evaluated. The cases were divided into 3 age groups: group A: 0 to 6 years, group B: 7 to 12 years, and group C: 13 to 18 years. RESULTS: Three hundred thirty-four maxillofacial fractures in 162 patients younger than 18 years were analyzed. The male to female ratio was 2.24:1 and mean age of these patients was 9.85 years old . Falls were the leading cause of maxillofacial fractures.The most frequent fracture site was mandible. Most patients with maxillofacial fractures were treated by open reduction. And it was done more in adolescents than in children. CONCLUSIONS: Falls were the main reason for maxillofacial fracutres in childern, and traffic accidents was the leading cause in adolescent. Preventive measures should be applied to reduce occurrences of pediatric facial fractures .Children can not be left at home alone, and monitoring is very necessary when children play in the high place. The government can consider related e-bike driving skills training. Teenagers must pass the relevant electric vehicle test before they can drive. Make the law that the driver of e-bike must wear a safety helmet. Our study shows that open reduction was a good choice for pediatric facial fractures, but usually conservative treatment is a better choice for condylar fractures.

Clinical Manifestations, Imaging Features, and Pathogenic/Prognostic Risk Factors for Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD): A Case-Control Study Based on Psychogenic Factors of Patients.

Objective: To survey the clinical manifestations and imaging features of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and analyze the risk factors for pathogenesis/prognosis through a case-control study based on psychogenic factors of patients. Methods: According to the inclusion criteria, 200 adult patients were randomly enrolled from the maxillofacial department of our hospital from January 2020 to May 2021, including 100 patients with TMD as the study group and 100 healthy patients as the control group. The study group can be assigned into four subgroups according to their clinical manifestations: (1) articular area or/and masticatory muscle pain group, (2) mandibular movement abnormality group, (3) joint murmur group, and (4) two or more symptom groups. Based on the study of psychogenic factors of patients, the clinical manifestations and imaging features of TMD were determined, and the risk factors for pathogenesis/prognosis were analyzed. Results: The distribution of psychological status in the TMD group was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). The distribution of anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms in the TMD group was significantly different from that in the control group (P < 0.05). Anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms were the risk factors for TMD. Compared with the control group, the incidence of abnormal MRI images in patients with temporomandibular disorders was significantly different (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in psychological status (anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms) among the three groups (P < 0.05). Anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms were the risk factors for abnormal mandibular movement and joint tremor and murmur (P < 0.05). Somatic symptoms were the risk factors for various clinical symptoms of TMD (P < 0.05). Depression was the risk factor for pain (P < 0.05). Conclusion: In patients with TMD, MRI can early identify disc abnormalities and other related imaging features, which is helpful for more comprehensive clinical evaluation and treatment of TMD patients. There exhibits no significant difference in psychological status (anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms) of patients with different clinical symptoms, and abnormal psychological status may be one of the risk factors leading to different clinical symptoms and development of different types of TMD patients.

A randomized controlled trial: evaluation of efficiency and safety of a novel surgical guide in the extraction of deeply impacted supernumerary teeth in the anterior maxilla.

Background: Preoperative X-ray and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) are helpful for locating supernumerary teeth, but the images cannot be transferred to the operation. To design a novel surgical guide plate for intraoperative navigation, we transfer the patient's oral CBCT and gypsum model scan data to a computer for analysis. In our study, we evaluate the efficiency and safety of a novel surgical guide plate for the extraction of deeply impacted supernumerary teeth (DIMSNT) in the anterior maxilla. Methods: Forty patients treated at the Department of School & Hospital of Stomatology, Wenzhou Medical University from March 2019 to December 2020 with DIMSNT (type II/III according to Liu et al.) in the anterior maxilla were randomly divided into 2 groups (20 patients for each group) for the extraction. For group I, a novel surgical guide was selected using CBCT and gypsum model scan. In contrast, for group II who underwent freehand surgery, only the CBCT data was used. The evaluation of operation time, complications, satisfaction score, and the number of cases that underwent extraction immediately after removing the bone were performed to assess the efficiency and safety of this novel surgical plate. Results: All patients completed the surgery successfully. The guides for group I had a good application effect. Group I's operation time (23.35±5.39 min) was shorter than group II (29.60±9.76 min) (P=0.0194). The average pain degree of group I (1.8±1.08) was significantly less than group II (2.82±1.68) (P<0.05). The average swelling score of group I (34) was significantly less than group II (44.7). Patient satisfaction was significantly higher in group I (8.95±1.05) than in group II (7.90±1.51) (P=0.0152). Conclusions: The novel surgical guide assisted with DIMSNT extraction have been effective in improving the quality of the surgery, patient satisfaction, and reduce its difficulty and duration. We can construct a surgical guide plate to guide the incision and osteotomy in DIMSNT surgery through the data analysis of DIMSNT on computer, which has a broad application prospect for clinical use. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2100054523.