Oral Health Status of Children Attending a Mobile Dental Clinic--A Comparative Study.

Periodicity of dental visits for children is based on age and disease susceptibility. Frequently mobile dental clinics are unable to provide follow-up care at recommended intervals. This study compared the oral health of children attending the mobile clinic (MC) twice with matched children by age, gender, race, and ZIP code attending for the first time. Dental charts (n=888) were reviewed and scored for decayed and filled surfaces. Seventy-eight children (mean age 9.6 years; 98.7% Hispanic) attended the clinic twice over a mean interval between visits of 1.5 years. These children had statistically significant lower rates of decay in deciduous and permanent tooth surfaces than matched children visiting the clinic for the first time (p<.05; p<.001), and significantly less decay in their deciduous and permanent teeth than at the first visit (p<.001; p<.05). Mobile clinics can be effective in decreasing the decay in teeth, even when the interval between visits is longer than current recommendations.

Oral health-related quality of life and perceived dental needs in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to investigate the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL) in the US population by sociodemographic factors, perception of dental needs, reported dental visits, and saliva indicators. METHODS: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004 were used. NHANES measured OHRQOL by a modified version of the Oral Health Impact Profile. RESULTS: The study had 6,183 subjects who averaged an OHRQOL score of 2.8 points. About 40% had painful aching in the mouth during the last year on at least one occasion. Perceived need to relieve dental pain was the strongest risk factor for poor OHRQOL (resulting in a higher score by 5.2 points), followed by perceived need for a denture or feeling of dry mouth (each resulting in a higher score by about 2 points). CONCLUSIONS: OHRQOL is the poorest among those with perceived dental needs especially those with the perceived need to relieve dental pain.

The C50T polymorphism of the cyclooxygenase-1 gene and the risk of thrombotic events during low-dose therapy with acetyl salicylic acid.

Aspirin prevents thrombotic events by inhibiting platelet cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), thus reducing thromboxane A2 formation and platelet aggregation. The C50T polymorphism of COX-1 is associated with an impaired inhibition of both thromboxane production and in-vitro platelet aggregation by aspirin. We studied whether this polymorphism is also associated with the risk of clinical thrombotic events in patients using aspirin. We included 496 patients admitted to our Coronary Care Unit for various indications treated with aspirin 80 mg daily. Genotyping for the C50T polymorphism demonstrated that 86.7% of the patients had the common genotype, and 13.3% had the variant (12.5% heterozygous, 0.8% homozygous). Baseline variables were well balanced, except that patients with the common genotype more frequently used aspirin prior to admission compared to those patients with the variant genotype. The composite primary endpoint of myocardial infarction, stroke, and/or cardiovascular death occurred in 98 patients (19.8%). Myocardial infarction occurred in 9.6% of patients, stroke in 1.6%, and cardiovascular death in 12.1%. The unadjusted hazard ratio (95% CI) for the primary endpoint for patients with the variant versus the common genotype was 1.07 (0.62-1.85), p = 0.8. The adjusted hazard ratio was 0.86 (0.49-1.50), p = 0.6. In prior laboratory studies the COX-1 C50T polymorphism was associated with an impaired inhibitory effect of aspirin on thromboxane production and platelet function. However, in this cohort of patients using low-dose aspirin for secondary prevention the polymorphism was not associated with a higher risk of atherothrombotic events.