ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the effect of acupuncture on pain of patients with refractory trigeminal neuralgia (TN).Methods: Acupuncture was accomplished for 14 patients with refractory TN, 3 sessions in a week for 10 sessions. Every treatment session lasted about 30 min. The pain severity of patients was evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS) at days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 1 month later as follow up. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 18.0. Results: The mean age of participants was (59.4±13.2) years old. The VAS points decreased from day 0 to the follow-up. As the results showed, the amount of VAS points decreased by acupuncture has emerged more significance in comparisons between days 0, 3 and days 14, 21, and the one-month follow-up, the differences in VAS points on the mentioned days were significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Acupuncture can cause proper pain relief for refractory TN. Acupuncture can induce an analgesic effect after multiple repetitions of therapeutic sessions.
ABSTRACT
Background: Odontogenesis begins from the sixth week of fetal life; meanwhile, the subsequent evolution is very complex and takes a long time. As a part of odontogenesis, amelogenesis can be altered by local and systemic factors. Systemic factors include the change of and reduction in tissue oxygenation, metabolic disorders, gamma ray, fever, infections, as well as vitamin A&D deficiency. There are few investigations demonstrating the effect of gestational diabetes on enamel defects. The current study aims to compare enamel hypoplasia and DMFT (Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth) index of children born to diabetic mothers with gestational diabetes with those of healthy mothers. Methods: In this retrospective study, 50 children born to diabetic mothers aged between 3 and 12 were selected as the study group and 50 age- matched children with healthy mothers as the control one. The presence of enamel hypoplasia, the involved surfaces and DMFT index were recorded. The data were collected and analyzed using SPSS software version 15, NPar, Mann-Whitney and Chi-Square tests. Results: The results obtained from the current study revealed that the prevalence of enamel hypoplasia and mean DMFT index in children of diabetic mothers was significantly higher than in the control group p=0.03. Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of enamel hypoplasia and mean DMFT in children of gestational diabetic mothers were significantly higher than that of the controls.
ABSTRACT
Background: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the oral mucosa with treatment challenges for clinicians. Aims: The objective of this study is to compare the effects of cryotherapy as a new modality with topical corticosteroids as a conventional therapy in the treatment of OLP. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients with bilateral OLP lesions were selected. From each patient a lesion on one side was chosen randomly for a single session of cryotherapy with nitrous oxide gas and the lesion on the other side received triamcinolone acetonide 0.1% ointment in orabase. Treatment outcome was measured by means of an appearance score, pain score (visual analogue scale), and severity of lesions before treatment and after 2, 4 and 6 weeks of treatment. Statistical Analysis Used: Paired samples t‑test and Wilcoxon test. Results: In both methods of treatment sign score, pain score and severity of lesions was significantly reduced in all follow‑up sessions (P < 0.05). But the treatment outcome and relapse was not significantly different between the two treatment methods (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Cryotherapy with nitrous oxide gas is as effective as topical triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of OLP with no systemic side effects and needs less patient compliance. It can be considered as an alternative or adjuvant therapy in OLP patients to reduce the use of treatments with adverse effects.