Royal advertising toothpaste pot lids.

Royal patronage is not something new. Engraved images of British royalty were used by early toothpaste manufacturers, dentists and perfumiers to convey royal endorsement to boost their product sales in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Packaged in high-quality ceramic pots, these toothpastes and powders promoted cleaning, beautifying and preserving the teeth and gums. These fascinating containers, sealed with a transfer-printed lid, feature inventive designs and typefaces and highlight sophisticated manufacturing and marketing skills to entice consumers. Many have been re-discovered from the excavation of former rubbish tips and are often the only tangible evidence of long defunct businesses that elected to use this latest form of packaging.

A Century of Advertising Toothpaste Pot Lids (1830-1930).

During the Victorian and Edwardian period, ceramic pots sealed with a transferred advertising lid were used by retailers in many English-speaking countries to package toothpastes and toothpowders. These pots, retrieved from former rubbish tips, have become highly collectable due to their variety and graphical appeal, as well as their historical significance. They clearly show the creativity and inventiveness of the skilled engravers who etched the copper plates to produce the transfers so these containers could be manufactured in large numbers. The resultant designs speak for themselves and include the development of new typefaces and intricately engraved pictorial scenes, comparable in quality to any other form of transfer printed ware. They also highlight the huge range of toothpaste flavors that were available just over a century ago. Cherry and areca nut were common but other exotic sounding flavors such as tomato, orange and carbolic acid were offered to entice a growing middle-class population. Professional dentistry standards were still developing, and these lids provide an insight to the pioneering marketing techniques to market what today is an everyday item.

Comparison of narcotic prescribing habits and other methods of pain control by oral and maxillofacial surgeons in the United States and Canada.

PURPOSE: A previous study of the narcotic prescribing habits and other methods of pain control used by American oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) after the removal of impacted third molars showed that they often prescribe more tablets of a narcotic than may be necessary. It has been suggested that the excess tablets could be diverted for nonmedical use. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Canadian OMSs have similar narcotic prescribing habits, because Canada has the second highest oral consumption of prescription oral narcotics in the world. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An 8-question survey similar to the one used in the US study was sent to all active members of the Canadian Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons; there was a 47% return. RESULTS: In Canada, the postoperative use of a steroid was slightly greater than in the United States, but the use of a long-lasting local anesthetic was essentially the same. The most frequently prescribed narcotic in the United States was hydrocodone, whereas the most frequently prescribed narcotic in Canada was codeine. However, the concomitant use of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with the narcotic was significantly greater in Canada than in the United States. The number of tablets of narcotic prescribed by Canadian OMSs also was larger than in the United States. CONCLUSIONS: The use of codeine plus an NSAID by Canadian OMSs for managing pain after the removal of impacted third molars rather than the more addictive drug hydrocodone raises the question of whether the latter drug is being overprescribed in the United States.

Osteomyelitis in a Paleozoic reptile: ancient evidence for bacterial infection and its evolutionary significance.

We report on dental and mandibular pathology in Labidosaurus hamatus, a 275 million-year-old terrestrial reptile from North America and associate it with bacterial infection in an organism that is characterized by reduced tooth replacement. Analysis of the surface and internal mandibular structure using mechanical and CT-scanning techniques permits the reconstruction of events that led to the pathology and the possible death of the individual. The infection probably occurred as a result of prolonged exposure of the dental pulp cavity to oral bacteria, and this exposure was caused by injury to the tooth in an animal that is characterized by reduced tooth replacement cycles. In these early reptiles, the reduction in tooth replacement is an evolutionary innovation associated with strong implantation and increased oral processing. The dental abscess observed in L. hamatus, the oldest known infection in a terrestrial vertebrate, provides clear evidence of the ancient association between terrestrial vertebrates and their oral bacteria.

Studies on the chronology of third molar mineralization in First Nations people of Canada.

Forensic age estimation of living subjects has become increasingly important in recent years. One main criterion for dental age estimation in the relevant age group is the evaluation of third molar mineralization. In the present study, we determined the stages of third molar mineralization in 347 female and 258 male First Nations people of Canada aged 11 to 29 years based on radiological evidence from 605 conventional orthopantomograms. The results presented here provide useful data on the mineralization stages of third molars that can be used for forensic estimation of the minimum and most probable ages including the range of scatter of investigated persons.

Metabolic characteristics of experimental free vascularized canine gracilis muscle transfers.

A canine gracilis model was used to study muscle energy metabolism and enzyme activities after free vascularized muscle transfer. Fifteen male mongrel dogs underwent orthotopic, free transfer of the left gracilis with microneurovascular anastomosis. After a minimum of 10 months' recovery, muscle biopsy specimens were obtained from the transfers and the contralateral controls and analyzed for relative fiber type areas and maximum activities of phosphorylase, hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH), pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, succinate dehydrogenase, 3-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase (HAD), and creatine phosphokinase. Biopsy specimens obtained before and after a 10 minute, 20-Hz contraction were analyzed for glucose, glycogen, glycolytic intermediates, phosphocreatine, total creatine, and adenine nucleotides (adenosine triphosphate, adenosine diphosphate, adenosine monophosphate, inosine monophosphate, and inosine). There was no significant transfer versus control difference in type I relative fiber area (45 +/- 4 percent versus 44 +/- 3 percent). Total creatine was significantly reduced in the transferred muscles relative to control (83.1 +/- 3.0 mmol/kg versus 100.6 +/- 5.1 mmol/kg dry weight). Maximal activities of phosphorylase, pyruvate kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, succinate dehydrogenase, HAD, and creatine phosphokinase were diminished in transfers relative to controls, although hexokinase activity was significantly higher in the freely transferred gracilis muscles. During the 20-Hz contraction, muscle transfers produced less force initially, although the force/time integral over the 10-minute stimulation was similar in transfers (277 +/- 25 N/g/second) and controls (272 +/- 24 N/g/second). The contraction was associated with significant glvcogen use and lactate accumulation in both transfers and controls, although this was less pronounced for the transfers. Glycolytic flux appeared muted in the transfers relative to controls. Significant, similar high-energy phosphagen reductions and inosine monophosphate accumulation were noted during the contraction in both groups. Contractile activity is associated with the expected pattern of muscle metabolite changes following free vascularized transfer, indicating the components of cellular energy metabolism are not qualitatively altered after microneurovascular muscle transfer. In contrast, quantitative differences suggest that free vascularized muscle transfer can be associated with a muscle enzyme profile consistent with deconditioning and the presence of denervated muscles fibers in the absence of fiber type profile changes.