A survey study for the dental students' satisfaction with the "needling therapies for temporomandibular disorders" lectures.

Background/purpose: Dry needling therapy and acupuncture can effectively relieve myofascial pain in temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). This study evaluated dental students' satisfaction with the "needling therapies for TMDs" lectures given in 2022 and 2023. Materials and methods: The "needling therapies for TMDs" lectures included mainly a dry needling therapy lecture and an acupuncture lecture which were given to the fifth-year dental students in both 2022 and 2023. An additional needling therapy demonstration lecture was given in 2023 only. Immediately after the lectures, the students were asked to complete an online-based questionnaire with four survey questions regarding their satisfaction with (1) the dry needling therapy, (2) the acupuncture, (3) the overall, and (4) the needling therapy demonstration lectures using 5-point Likert scale ratings. Results: Fifty-three (80 %) of 66 and 60 (81 %) of 74 students answered the questions in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The satisfaction rates improved from 70 % in 2022 to 83 % in 2023 for the dry needling therapy lecture, from 64 % in 2022 to 85 % in 2023 for the acupuncture lecture, and from 70 % in 2022 to 88 % in 2023 for the overall lecture. The satisfaction rate was 88 % in 2023 for the needling therapy demonstration lecture. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that inclusion of the needling therapy demonstration lecture in 2023 can results in a marked increase in the satisfaction rates for the lectures. The relatively-lower satisfaction rate for the acupuncture lecture in 2022 may be due to the difficulty in understanding the mechanisms underlying the acupuncture therapy.

Changes in prevalence of precancerous oral submucous fibrosis from 1996 to 2013 in Taiwan: A nationwide population-based retrospective study.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) has been regarded as a precancerous condition. Research examining the prevalence of OSF could be the first step in preventing or reducing malignant transformation. In this study, we probed a nationwide registered database to assess the prevalence, gender distribution, age, income, and urbanization status of OSF patients in Taiwan. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the registered database compiled by the National Health Insurance provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan. We identified dental visit patients diagnosed with OSF during the period between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2013. In addition, demographic characteristics were analyzed by multivariate Poisson regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of OSF increased significantly from 8.3 (per 105) in 1996 to 16.2 (per 105) in 2013 (p < 0.0001). Men had a significantly higher OSF prevalence than women (p < 0.001). The mean age of patients with OSF increased from 1996 to 2013. Individuals living in rural areas had a higher risk of OSF compared with those living in urban areas [relative risk (RR), 1.10; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.07-1.13]. The higher income group had a lower risk of OSF compared with the lower income group (RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.73-0.80). CONCLUSION: This large-scale government-centered survey demonstrates that the prevalence of OSF in Taiwan significantly increased from 1996 to 2013. The prevalence was higher among men than among women.

Sulforaphane targets cancer stemness and tumor initiating properties in oral squamous cell carcinomas via miR-200c induction.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are deemed as the driving force of tumorigenesis in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs). In this study, we investigated the chemotherapeutic effect of sulforaphane, a dietary component from broccoli sprouts, on targeting OSCC-CSCs. METHODS: The effect of sulforaphane on normal oral epithelial cells (SG) and sphere-forming OSCC-CSCs isolated from SAS and GNM cells was examined. ALDH1 activity and CD44 positivity of OSCC-CSCs with sulforaphane treatment was assessed by flow cytometry analysis. In vitro and in vivo tumorigenicity assays of OSCC-CSCs with sulforaphane treatment were presented. RESULTS: We observed that the sulforaphane dose-dependently eliminated the proliferation rate of OSCC-CSCs, whereas the inhibition on SG cells proliferation was limited. Cancer stemness properties including self-renewal, CD44 positivity, and ALDH1 activity were also decreased in OSCC-CSCs with different doses of sulforaphane treatment. Moreover, sulforaphane treatment of OSCC-CSCs decreased the migration, invasion, clonogenicity, and in vivo tumorigenicity of xenograghts. Sulforaphane treatment resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the levels of tumor suppressive miR200c. CONCLUSION: These lines of evidence suggest that sulforaphane can suppress the cancer stemness and tumor-initiating properties in OSCC-CSCs both in vitro and in vivo.

Clinical effectiveness of laser acupuncture in the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorder.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) is a general term for diseases of the temporomandibular joint and orofacial muscles. In this study, we tested whether laser acupuncture was effective for the treatment of TMD. METHODS: Twenty patients with TMD were treated with diode K-Laser (wavelength 800 nm, energy density 100.5 J/cm(2)) once a week at four acupuncture points including three standard ipsilateral local points (ST6, ST7, Ashi point) and one contralateral distal point (LI4). A 10-cm visual analogue scale (0 no pain and 10 the most severe pain) was used for measuring the pain intensity before and after the treatment. RESULTS: Seventeen out of 20 patients (85%) showed various degrees of pain relief after laser acupuncture treatment. The average pain score was 6.3 ± 1.6 before treatment and 2.5 ± 2.2 after treatment. Significant pain relief after laser acupuncture treatment was achieved (p = 0.0003, Wilcoxon signed rank test). The 17 patients showed an average pain relief of 63 ± 31%. There were six patients who showed no TMD symptoms after an average of four treatments of laser acupuncture. The other 11 patients showed partial relief of TMD symptoms after treatment. Although the pain was still present, it was less and was acceptable. No side effects were reported in any patients during or after laser acupuncture treatments. CONCLUSION: Laser acupuncture may be an alternative treatment modality for TMD because it is non-invasive, results in partial or total relief of pain, and has no side effects.

Topical photodynamic therapy is very effective for oral verrucous hyperplasia and oral erythroleukoplakia.

BACKGROUND: Oral verrucous hyperplasia (OVH) and oral erythroleukoplakia (OEL) are two oral precancerous lesions with relatively high malignant transformation potential. One of the best cancer prevention strategies is to use a conservative and effective treatment modality to eliminate oral precancers to stop their further malignant transformation. Our previous studies have shown that the topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy (topical ALA-PDT) using the 635-nm light-emitting diode (LED) light is very effective for OVH and OEL lesions. METHODS: Because the laser machine is a more-popular light source than the LED device in PDT clinics, in this study 40 OVH and 40 OEL lesions were treated once a week with the same PDT protocol but using the 635-nm laser light to evaluate whether this laser light-mediated topical ALA-PDT was also effective for OVH and OEL lesions. RESULTS: We found that all the 40 OVH lesions exhibited complete response (CR) after an average of 3.6 PDT treatments. Of the 40 OEL lesions, 38 showed CR after an average of 3.4 PDT treatments and two showed partial response (PR). Better PDT outcomes were significantly associated with OVH and OEL lesions with the smaller size, pink to red color, epithelial dysplasia, or thinner surface keratin layer. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that the laser light-mediated topical ALA-PDT is also very effective for OVH and OEL lesions. Therefore, we suggest that topical ALA-PDT using either the LED or laser light may serve as the first-line treatment of choice for OVH and OEL lesions.

Comparison of clinical outcomes of oral erythroleukoplakia treated with photodynamic therapy using either light-emitting diode or laser light.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy (topical ALA-PDT) using a 635-nm light-emitting diode (LED) light is an effective treatment modality for oral verrucous hyperplasia. This study tested whether topical ALA-PDT using either the LED or laser light was also an effective treatment modality for oral erythroleukoplakia (OEL) lesions. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective but non-randomized study, 20 OEL lesions were treated with topical ALA-PDT using the 635-nm LED light and 26 OEL lesions were treated with topical ALA-PDT using the 635-nm laser light. The difference in clinical outcomes was compared between the two groups by Fisher exact test. RESULTS: We found that the 20 LED light-treated OEL lesions showed complete response (CR) in 17 and partial response (PR) in 3. The 17 CR OEL lesions required an average of 3.7 (range, 2-7) treatments of ALA-PDT to achieve CR of the lesions. The 26 laser light-treated OEL lesions showed CR in 25 and PR in 1. The 25 CR OEL lesions needed an average of 3.3 (range, 2-6) treatments of ALA-PDT to achieve CR of the lesions. There was no significant difference in PDT outcomes between the 20 LED light-treated and 26 laser light-treated OEL lesions (P = 0.303). When the 42 CR OEL lesions were pooled together, we found that smaller lesions (greatest diameter <1.5 cm) and lesions with thinner surface keratin (keratin layer < or =30 microm) needed significantly fewer mean treatment number of PDT to achieve a CR than the larger lesions (P = 0.000) and lesions with thicker surface keratin (P = 0.000), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Topical ALA-PDT using either the LED or laser light is an effective treatment modality for OEL lesions. There is no significant difference in clinical outcomes of OEL lesions treated with PDT using either the LED or laser light.