Restoring the voids of voices by signs and gestures, in dentistry: A cross-sectional study.

AIMS: To help dentists to communicate with the hearing impaired patients, reach an accurate diagnosis and explain the treatment plan by learning some signs and gestures used in the nonverbal communication (NVC) and by devising some new signs and gestures related to dentistry which shall be easy to learn and understand both by the hearing impaired patients and the dentists. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The study was carried out on 100 hearing impaired students in the age group of 10-14 years in two special schools for hearing impaired children located in two different states of India, where different spoken languages and different sign languages are used. One dentist (expert dentist) was trained in the NVC and the other dentist (non expert dentist) had no knowledge of this type of communication, communicated the same sets of statements related to dentistry, to the hearing impaired children. One1 translator was assigned to judge their interactions. Students were asked to tell the interpreter at the end of each signed interaction what they understood from the statement conveyed to them by both the dentists. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: All data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using Chi-square test and odds ratio test. RESULTS: In the special school of 1st state, the nonexpert dentist conveyed only 36.3% of the information correctly to the students, whereas the expert dentist conveyed 83% of the information correctly. In the special school of 2nd state, the nonexpert dentist conveyed only 37.5% of the information correctly to the students, whereas the expert dentist conveyed 80.3% of the information correctly. CONCLUSIONS: Dentists should be made aware of the NVC and signs and gestures related to dentistry should be taught to the hearing impaired students as well as the dental students.

Propolis: A Smart Supplement for an Intracanal Medicament.

INTRODUCTION: One of the most important factors for successful endodontic therapy is root canal cleaning. The difficulty involved in eliminating microorganisms, as well as their residual presence, warrants the use of root canal dressings after bio-mechanical preparation. AIM: The aim of the study was to compare the diffusion ability between nonalcoholic calcium hydroxide-propolis paste, calcium hydroxide-saline paste, and calcium hydroxide-propylene glycol paste. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this proposed study, single-rooted extracted permanent teeth were randomly divided into three groups to fill the canals: group I: Calcium hydroxide-propylene glycol paste, group II: Calcium hydroxide-saline paste, and group III: Calcium hydroxide-propolis paste. After complete filing of the root canal, the pH values of the solutions in the flasks are measured at an interval of 3, 24, 72, 168 hours. RESULTS: After 168-hour interval, it was noticed that the mean pH obtained by calcium hydroxide-propolis paste was 10.54 (± 0.38), which was greater than calcium hydroxide-propylene glycol paste 9.70 (± 0.45) and calcium hydroxide-saline paste 9.16 (± 0.30) consecutively. CONCLUSION: The nonalcoholic calcium hydroxide-propolis paste used during the study was able to diffuse through the dentinal tubules. Thus, it can be used as a vehicle for calcium hydroxide.How to cite this article: Baranwal R, Duggi V, Avinash A, Dubey A, Pagaria S, Munot H. Propolis: A Smart Supplement for an Intracanal Medicament. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2017; 10(4):324-329.

Evaluation of 2-Stage Injection Technique in Children.

Effective pain control during local anesthetic injection is the cornerstone of behavior guidance in pediatric dentistry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the practical efficacy of a 2-stage injection technique in reducing injection pain in children. This was a split-mouth, randomized controlled crossover trial. One hundred cooperative children aged 7 to 13 years in need of bilateral local anesthetic injections (inferior alveolar nerve block, posterior superior alveolar nerve block, or maxillary and mandibular buccal infiltrations) for restorative, endodontic, and extraction treatments were recruited for the study. Children were randomly allocated to receive either the 2-stage injection technique or conventional technique at the first appointment. The other technique was used at the successive visit after 1 week. Subjective and objective evaluation of pain was done using the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale (FPS) and Sound Eye Motor (SEM) scale, respectively. The comparison of pain scores was done by Wilcoxon sign-rank test. Both FPS and SEM scores were significantly lower when the 2-stage injection technique of local anesthetic nerve block/infiltration was used compared with the conventional technique. The 2-stage injection technique is a simple and effective means of reducing injection pain in children.