Aesthetic Dentistry - What You Decided and What I Want: Shade Selection

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the relationship between patients' and dentists' perceptions of shade selection and its impact on satisfaction with the prosthesis. Material and Methods: A single group pre-post study was conducted at the Prosthodontics department of a teaching hospital in India. One hundred ten participants were selected through a systematic random sampling technique with inclusion and exclusion criteria. Patients' attitudes regarding the aesthetics of their maxillary anterior teeth were recorded using a validated questionnaire. Shades for the intended prosthetic crown selected by the dentist and chosen by the patient were recorded separately, and patient satisfaction with the appearance of the final prosthesis was recorded. We used descriptive statistics followed by Pearson's Chi-square test and a binomial logistic regression model for inferential statistics. Results: 109 participant's data were available for final analysis. Patients choose lighter shades than the dentist's selection, which is statistically significant (p=0.000). 73.4% were satisfied with the final prosthesis, and the binomial logistic regression model identified using patient-selected shade for the final prosthesis was significantly associated with patients' satisfaction with the final prosthesis (OR=3.3, p=0.001). Conclusion: The patient's preference should be considered with the dentist's option when selecting a shade to create good esthetics.

Effect of probiotic bacteria on oral Candida in head- and neck-radiotherapy patients: A randomized clinical trial

Objective: The aim of the study is to assess the effect of probiotic bacteria on oral Candida counts in cancer patients who are undergoing head- and neck-radiotherapy in a tertiary care center. Study Design: The study was a randomized clinical trial including 90 patients who just completed head- and neck-radiotherapy. Materials and Methods: Participants were randomly allocated into three equal sized groups, i.e., probiotics group, candid group, and combination groups. Oral rinse samples of the patients were collected before and after the intervention for the identification of Candida. The samples were incubated on Sabouraud's Dextrose Agar with Chloramphenicol at 37°C for 48 h, to assess the counts of colony-forming units/milliliter (CFU/ml) of Candida in saliva, and further on chrome agar plates to identify the Candida spp. Data were analyzed using mixed ANOVA to compare mean CFU/ml of Candida among three groups before and after the intervention. Results: A total of 86 patients were included in the final analysis and there was a statistically significant reduction in mean Candida spp. Counts (CFU/ml) after intervention in all the three groups (P = 0.000) and significant reductions identified in both probiotic and combination therapy groups. Apart from reduction in Candida albicans, significant decrease in Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis was observed after probiotics usage compared to other groups. Conclusions: The present study suggests that probiotic bacteria were effective in reducing oral Candida spp which can be recommended alone or in combination with traditional antifungal agents for effective reduction in oral Candida in head- and neck-radiotherapy patients

Assessment of Caries Spectrum of First Permanent Molars in 7- to 8-Year-Old School Children in Northern Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Objective: To estimate caries spectrum in first permanent molars (FPMs) of 7- to 8-year-old children in Saudi Arabia using Caries Assessment Spectrum and Treatment (CAST) index, and examine the correlation between distributions of CAST codes among contralateral and opposite arches. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 7- to 8-year-old Saudi school children in Sakaka, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia. A total of 385 children were examined. CAST codes were determined for FPMs, and their distribution was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Statistical significance was set as p<0.05. Intra-examiner reliability was determined using the unweighted kappa coefficient. Results: The results indicated most of the FPMs were scored as code 3 (enamel lesions) such as upper contralateral FPM 44.40% for right, 53.50% for left, respectively, and lower contralateral molars were 61.30% for right and 64.90% for left, respectively. It was also observed that upper FPMs had scored code 0 (sound teeth) more than that of lower FPMs. Serious morbidity (codes 6 and 7) and mortality (code 8) showed a low prevalence in FPMs. Strong correlations were observed between upper contralateral FPMs (r=0.586) and lower contralateral FPMs (r=0.567, p<0.001). Conclusion: A high prevalence of enamel caries lesions (code 3) was observed in FPMs; in addition, a strong correlation was present between upper contralateral FPMs and between lower contralateral FPMs.

Self-Perceived Preparedness to Work Independently Among Graduating Dental Students in Saudi Arabia: Traditional Versus Integrated Curriculum

Abstract Objective: To investigate the perceived preparedness of graduating dental students to work independently and to compare these perceptions between Traditional and Integrated curriculums of dentistry in Saudi Arabia. Material and Methods: A pretested self-administered questionnaire was filled by 258 dental students from four dental institutions across the country. The questionnaire covered 10 domains consisting of sixty suitable questions. Students were asked to mark their responses at one of five levels of performance for each of the selected skills ranging from 0 (not yet learned) to 4 (can do it confidently). Mean scores for each subscale of the Questionnaire were calculated by individual items and for all comparison, p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: 253 graduating students were included in the final analysis, out of which 108 belongs to the Integrated curriculum group and 145 from Traditional curriculum. Overall scores of Traditional curriculum students (176 ± 4.8) were more compared to Integrated curriculum students (161 ± 3.2), which are statistically significant. Integrated curriculum students had more self-perceived skill scores in Orthodontics, Conservative/Operative Dentistry & Endodontics, Dental Public Health and Drug & Emergency management group of clinical skills. Overall, perceived preparedness to practice dentistry for all participants is 60.5% and traditional curriculum students expressed more preparedness (68%) than Integrated curriculum (53%). Conclusion: Overall, preparedness to practice independently is unsatisfactory compared to other countries. The Ministry of Education (KSA) should take necessary actions to bridge the gap between training dentists and to be competent practitioners.

Quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials in ten academic Indian dental journals.

Background: Biased results from poorly reported trials can mislead decision‑making in health care at all levels, from treatment decisions for the individual patient to formulation of national public health policies. Objective: To evaluate the quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in ten Indian dental journals over the period 2011–2012. Materials and Methods: This study included all RCTs published as full‑text articles reported in ten Indian dental journals over the period from 2011 to 2012. The relevant trials were identified by searching Medline. Hand searching of the journals was also carried out by three of the authors to check if any potential trial was missing. Each article was assessed against the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials criteria tool, as described by Schulz et al. (2010). Results: The mean number of criteria present per article was 12.2 (standard deviation [SD] =2.2) and only 5 of 106 articles got total possible score. Most of the articles (69%) did not mention about justification for sample size calculation, 89% of the articles did not mention about allocation concealment, 86% of the articles did not mention about funding and 63% of the articles did not mention about limitations of the study. Conclusion: The quality of reporting of Randomized clinical trials in ten Indian academic journals was poor.