Impact of haptic simulators in preclinical dental education: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Haptic technologies have opened a new avenue in preclinical dental education, with evidence that they can be used to improve student performance. The aim of this systematic review was to (1) determine the effect of haptic simulators on motor skill acquisition during preclinical dental training, (2) explore students' perception, and (3) explore the ability of haptic systems to distinguish users based on their initial level of manual dexterity. METHODS: A comprehensive search of articles published up to February 2023 was performed using five databases (i.e., PubMed/Medline, ScienceDirect, Web of Sciences, Scopus, and Cochrane Library) and specialized journals. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis 2020 guidelines were followed, and the risk of bias was assessed. Only studies on the application of haptic simulators in dentistry preclinical training were included. Qualitative synthesis of data was performed, and the protocol was registered in PROSPERO (ID = CRD42022337177). RESULTS: Twenty-three clinical studies, including 1303 participants, were included. The authors observed a statistically significant improvement in dental students' motor skills in various dental specialties, such as restorative dentistry, pediatric, prosthodontics, periodontics, implantology, and dental surgery, after haptic training. Haptic technologies were perceived well by all participants, with encouraging data regarding their ability to differentiate users according to their initial level of manual dexterity. CONCLUSIONS: Our work suggests that haptic simulators can significantly improve motor skill acquisition in preclinical dental training. This new digital technology, which was well perceived by the participants, also showed encouraging results in discriminating users according to their level of experience.

Current Data on Oral Peri-Implant and Periodontal Microbiota and Its Pathological Changes: A Systematic Review.

The 5- and 10-year implant success rates in dentistry are nearly 90%. Prevalence of peri-implant diseases is 10% for peri-implantitis and 50% for peri-implant mucositis. To better understand these inflammatory pathologies of infectious origin, it is important to know if the composition of the peri-implant microbiota is comparable with the periodontal microbiota in healthy and pathological conditions. New generation sequencing (NGS) is a recent metagenomic method that analyzes the overall microorganisms present in an ecological niche by exploiting their genome. These methods are of two types: 16S rRNA sequencing and the shotgun technique. For several years, they have been used to explore the oral, periodontal, and, more specifically, peri-implant microbiota. The aim of this systematic review is to analyze the recent results of these new explorations by comparing the periodontal and peri-implant microbiota in patients with healthy and diseased sites and to explore the microbiological characteristics of peri-implantitis. A better knowledge of the composition of the peri-implant microbiota would enable us to optimize our therapeutic strategies. An electronic systematic search was performed using the medical databases PubMed/Medline, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect, and Periodontology 2000. The selected articles were published between January 2015 and March 2021. Inclusion criteria included clinical studies comparing healthy and pathological periodontal and peri-implant microbiota exclusively using 16S rRNA sequencing or shotgun sequencing, with enrolled populations free of systemic pathology, and studies without substantial bias. Eight articles were selected and reviewed. All of them used 16S rRNA sequencing exclusively. The assessment of these articles demonstrates the specific character of the peri-implant microbiota in comparison with the periodontal microbiota in healthy and pathological conditions. Indeed, peri-implant diseases are defined by dysbiotic bacterial communities that vary from one individual to another, including known periodontopathogens such as Porphyromonas gingivalis (P.g.) and genera less mentioned in the periodontal disease pattern such as Filifactor alocis. Examination of peri-implant microbiota with 16S rRNA sequencing reveals differences between the periodontal and peri-implant microbiota under healthy and pathological conditions in terms of diversity and composition. The pattern of dysbiotic drift is preserved in periodontal and peri-implant diseases, but when comparing the different types of pathological sites, the peri-implant microbiota has a specificity in the presence of bacteria proper to peri-implantitis and different relative proportions of the microorganisms present.

Effect of 970 nm low-level laser therapy on orthodontic tooth movement during Class II intermaxillary elastics treatment: a RCT.

This prospective randomized clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effect of low-level laser therapy on tooth movement during Class II intermaxillary elastics treatment. Forty-two patients with Class II malocclusion were included, and their maxillary quadrants were allocated into two groups: treatment with an active diode laser and a placebo group. In each group, the time taken to obtain Class I occlusion after 6 months, rate of movement, total displacement of the maxillary canine to Class I occlusion and pain were recorded. The time to reach Class I occlusion in the active laser group (2.46 ± 2.1 months) was not significantly different from that in the placebo group (2.48 ± 2.0 months) (p = 0.938). Interestingly, the total distance of movement on the active laser side (2.27 ± 1.5 mm) was significantly greater than that on the placebo side (1.64 ± 1.3 mm) (p = 0.009). The pain levels on days 1, 2 and 3 were not significantly different between the laser and placebo sections. The rate of distance change toward Class I occlusion in the laser group (1.1 ± 0.7 mm/month) was significantly higher than that in the placebo group (0.74 ± 0.6 mm/month) (p = 0.037). Low-level laser therapy (970 nm) did not reduce the time needed to obtain Class I occlusion, but a significant acceleration in tooth movement was observed in the irradiated group.Trial registration: NCT02181439. Registered 04 July 2014- https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=cinelaser .