Maternal mental health and children oral health: a literature review.

AIM: Recently, serious considerations regarding mental health conditions and their impact on the whole organism have been made. This area is still quite unknown within the dental community, despite the potential impact these conditions can have on both oral care and health. Previous studies have concluded that both pregnant women and mothers have been found to be particularly sensitive to the risk of developing mental disorders such as anxiety and major depression. There is a very high possibility for the children of these mothers to experience neglect and disregard due to of the development of these conditions, which will negatively affect their behavioural and physical growth as a result. This impact stretches into oral health as well, as these children have been reported to be more inclined to develop early childhood caries, bruxism, and after-birth enamel defects, in addition to illnesses like diabetes and disabilities. MATERIALS: A literature search was conducted in Pubmed, Medline, and Scopus for the keywords 'maternal depression', 'oral health' and 'children', combined with 'AND' or 'OR' Boolean Operators. CONCLUSION: The results of the present literature suggest a strong connection between maternal mental disorders and poor children's oral care, and as a result, dental professionals should be extremely careful when treating and communicating with these patients.

Rapid maxillary expansion for interceptive orthodontic treatment of palatally displaced canine: A systematic review.

AIM: The present systematic review aims to summarise the relevant randomised clinical trials and estimate the efficacy of interceptive orthodontic intervention, in particular if an interceptive treatment with rapid maxillary expansion could be successful in managing of palatally displaced canines (PDCs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A search strategy was developed on electronic databases including Medline, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane Collaboration Trial from 1925 to 2019. Two reviewers independently reviewed the sources deciding for a full reading according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Methodological quality criteria were applied to the selected articles. RESULTS: Three randomised clinical trials (RCTs) and one prospective longitudinal study were included in the systematic review. Generally, the intervention groups showed a higher incidence of successful eruption of PDCs (45.1% - 65.7%) compared with the control groups (13.1% - 13.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the literature published, authors reached a reasonable conclusion that rapid maxillary expansion can facilitate the eruption of PDCs. Authors suggest to associate maxillary expansion with deciduous canine extraction or prevention of mesial movement of the upper first molars.

Evaluation of tooth size in non-syndromic cleft lip and palate patients: A retrospective Italian study.

AIM: This study aims to evaluate the dental dimension in cleft lip and palate patients presenting agenesis of at least an upper lateral incisor and to compare the results with those of two control groups. A control group consisted of general orthodontic patients without agenesis, while the other group consisted of orthodontic patients with agenesis of at least one upper lateral incisor. METHODS: Records of 40 (30 male, 10 female) cleft lip and palate patients (Group A), 40 (17 male, 23 female) patients representing the control group of general orthodontic patients (Group B) and 40 patients (14 male, 26 female) with at least one missing lateral incisor (Group C) were collected and analysed. Mesiodistal tooth size of all teeth (except second and third molars) was measured on digital or plaster dental casts. RESULTS: Tooth size in cleft lip and palate patients (Group A) was similar to that of the control group (Group B) of general orthodontic patients without tooth agenesis, except for the upper central incisors and the second upper left bicuspids that presented a significant reduction in the mesiodistal dental width. Non-syndromic patients with at least one missing upper lateral incisor showed a significant reduction of mesiodistal tooth size compared to Group A and to Group B. CONCLUSION: Dental width of cleft lip and palate patients is similar to that of a normal orthodontic population, with the exception of the upper central incisor and upper premolars on one side.

Cephalometric changes after headgear anchored to the deciduous second molars in the early mixed dentition.

AIM: The present study aimed to evaluate the cephalometric effects of a headgear anchored to the deciduous second molars in the early mixed dentition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study design: The study followed a retrospective longitudinal design and enrolled 31 consecutive patients (17 females and 14 males) treated with high pull (HP) headgear anchored to the deciduous second molars, average age 8y 5m± 5m at pre-treatment time (T0) and 9y 8m± 6m at post-treatment time (T1). All the patients wore the headgear for approximately 8-10 hours at night, with a force of 250 g per side. The active phase of treatment ended once patients obtained a distal step on permanent molars of at least 2 mm. Lateral cephalograms at T0 and T1 were taken; 10 angular measurements were chosen as variables of the study. The paired sample t-test was employed to assess the significance of the differences of each variable between T0 and T1. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In this group of Class II patients, HP headgear anchored to the deciduous second molars in the early mixed dentition produced: significant reduction of SNA angle, significant increase of SN/NL angle with no significant change in SN/ML angle, significant labial flaring of upper incisors. As clinically evaluated, the correction of the Class II occlusal relationship and the anterior crowding of maxillary arch were also accomplished.

Rapid Palatal Expansion in the absence of posterior cross-bite to intercept maxillary incisor crowding in the mixed dentition: a CBCT evaluation of spontaneous changes of untouched permanent molars.

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the reaction of untouched permanent molars following RPE, anchored on deciduous teeth in the early mixed dentition, aimed to solve maxillary anterior crowding in the absence of posterior cross-bite. METHODS: A prospective clinical trial comprised 35 consecutive patients (20 males and 15 females) treated by the same orthodontist (MR). All patients showed crowding of the upper permanent incisors in the early mixed dentition in the absence of posterior cross-bite. RPE was anchored on second deciduous molars and on the deciduous canines. CBCT was taken before and after the removal of the RPE appliance. The transverse linear changes in width and the variation in the torque of the permanent molars were measured in the coronal plane. RESULTS: Relief of incisor crowding was found in all patients. The transverse width between permanent molars increased significantly. The apices of the upper permanent molars spontaneously expanded more than the crowns, while the opposite happened on the lower permanent molars. Moreover, the untouched upper permanent molars spontaneously uprighted palatally, while the lower permanent molars spontaneously uprighted buccally. The variation in the torque of the permanent molars mirrored transverse normal growth. CONCLUSIONS: In the early mixed dentition and in the absence of posterior cross-bite, it is possible to expand transversally the palate while uprighting the upper permanent molars in the opposite direction. RPE anchored on the deciduous teeth in the early mixed dentition, in the absence of posterior cross-bite, provides an "anticipation of transverse growth" and could be indicated to expand the anterior portion of the maxillary arch perimeter to solve upper incisor crowding.

Spontaneous correction of anterior crossbite by RPE anchored on deciduous teeth in the early mixed dentition.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Haas RPE anchored on deciduous teeth in the early mixed dentition, for inducing the spontaneous correction of permanent incisor's crossbite, without compliance, without post bite-plane and no involvement of the permanent teeth. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample group comprised 50 consecutive patients (mean age 8y 5m, SD 2y 1m), 31 males, 19 females. They showed a cross-bite affecting one or more permanent incisors, for a total of 70 teeth. The patients were treated with Haas RPE appliance anchored on second deciduous molars and bonded on deciduous canines. No direct forces were applied on the permanent teeth. RESULTS: Anterior crossbite self-corrected 'spontaneously' in 84% of the cases. Lateral incisors had a higher rate of self-correction than central incisors. All hyper-divergent subjects showed a spontaneous crossbite self-correction. CONCLUSION: The early maxillary expansion by Haas RPE anchored on deciduous teeth is an efficient and effective procedure to induce the anterior crossbite self-correction in the early mixed dentition without the need of a bite-plane, no involvement of the permanent teeth and without compliance.

Kinetics of Th1/Th2 cytokines and lymphocyte subsets to predict chronic GVHD after allo-SCT: results of a prospective study.

The role of different cytokines and cells of immune system in the pathogenesis of chronic GVHD (cGVHD) is still controversial. Earlier studies, which were either retrospective or analysed one or a few factors, did not show unequivocal results. We prospectively evaluated cytokine levels and lymphocyte subsets in 30 patients who underwent Allo-SCT to investigate their possible correlation with cGVHD. Levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-gamma, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and its soluble receptors were assessed by ELISA in 30 patients at different times after SCT. Lymphocyte subsets were evaluated by flow cytometry in peripheral blood at the same times as cytokines. A multivariate analysis was performed using principal component analysis and multi-factor ANOVA (analysis of variance). Eighteen patients developed cGVHD at a median time of 6 months (range, 5-9) after SCT. In multivariate analysis, we observed a correlation between cGVHD and clusters of cytokines and lymphocyte subsets from the third to the sixth month after SCT. These clusters changed their composition over time, but they constantly included natural killer (NK) and CD152+ T cells as negative predictors of cGVHD. TNF-alpha prevailed among other cytokines before the onset of cGVHD. This prevalence could be related partly to the defect of immunoregulatory cells.

Cholesteryl esters in human malignant neoplasms.

Cholesteryl esters (CholE) were detected in human malignant neoplasms by means of in vitro nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Spectroscopic analysis of the total lipid extracts obtained from cerebral tumors revealed appreciable amount of esterified cholesterol in high grade gliomas such as glioblastomas and anaplastic oligodendrogliomas, characterized by prominent neovascularity. The finding that no CholE were detected in the healthy brain and in low grade and benign tumors supports a possible correlation between this class of lipids and histological vascular proliferation. Compared with high grade gliomas, renal cell carcinomas show higher levels of CholE, absent in the healthy renal parenchyma and in benign oncocytomas. In nefro-carcinomas, cytoplasmic lipid inclusions and prominent vascularization contribute to the increased levels of CholE present mainly as oleate. CholE are discussed as potential biochemical markers of cancer and as a target for new therapeutic strategies.

In vitro MRS and HPLC studies on human renal cell carcinomas.

Samples from ten patients with renal cell carcinomas (RCC) were examined by 1H MRS and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) measurements. Twenty samples, ten from the tumor and ten from the surrounding healthy renal region were obtained. MRS yielded information on renal osmolytes which can be considered markers of physiological kidney function. The marked decrease of these osmolytes is a hallmark of cancer. Moreover, HPLC measurements disclosed the amino acid pattern of both healthy and neoplastic tissues. The Glu and Ea content had statistical significance. GSH was present in tumor tissues only.