Comparison of dmft and behavior rating scores between children with systemic disease and healthy children at the first dental visit.

PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare oral health and behavior scores at the first dental visit and dental treatment need using general anesthesia/sedation (GA/S) of children with systemic diseases (SD) and healthy children. METHODS: Data were obtained from healthy children (n = 87) and children with SD (n = 79), aged 4 to 6 years, presenting to a hospital dental clinic for a first dental examination. The total number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft), dental behavior score using Frankl Scale, and dental treatment need using GA/S were recorded. Chi-square / Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: The patients with SD were diagnosed with cardiac disease (61%), renal disease (9%), and pediatric cancers (30%). The median dmft values of the SD group (3.00) were significantly lower than those of healthy children (5.00) (p = 0.02) and healthy children exhibited significantly more positive behavior (90.8%) than children with SD (73.4%) (p = 0.002). The number of patients needing GA/S for dental treatment did not differ significantly between the two groups (p = 0.185). There was no relationship between dental treatment need with GA/S and dental behavior scores of the patients (p = 0.05). A statistically significant relationship was found between the patients' dmft scores and the need for dental treatment using GA/S; and the cut-off value was found to be dmft > 4 for the overall comparisons. CONCLUSION: The presence of chronic disease in children appeared to affect the cooperation negatively at the first dental visit compared to healthy controls, however, it did not affect the oral health negatively. Having a negative behavior score or SD did not necessitate the use of GA/S for dental treatment.

A 3-Year retrospective study of traumatic dental Injuries to the primary dentition.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) in the primary dentition are a significant public health problem, which has been neglected worldwide. Despite its high prevalence, limited studies address this injury. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics and treatment modalities of TDIs affecting primary teeth, along with accompanying medical co-morbidities and attendance at follow-up appointments. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective analysis included all TDIs affecting primary teeth from January 2014 to January 2017. Data abstraction included demographics, time lapse prior to arrival at hospital, trauma etiology, classification of TDIs, soft tissue and supporting bone injuries, medical co-morbidities, emergency treatment, follow-up appointments and prognosis. RESULTS: Records of 283 children with 536 traumatized primary teeth were reviewed. The median age was 2 years and the maxillary right central incisor (35.1%) was the most frequently injured tooth. Almost half the patients, 46.3%, sought treatment after 24 h. Periodontal tissue injuries (97.2%) predominated TDIs for which fall accidents (82.0%) were the most encountered cause. Most patients (177/283) had accompanying soft tissue/supporting bone injuries and 67.2% had multiple traumatized teeth. Seventy percent of the patients were examined only or were prescribed medication. Survival time following TDIs was unknown in 67.7% of traumatized teeth due to non-attendance at follow-up appointments. Most patients (55.1%) did not attend the follow-up appointments. CONCLUSIONS: TDIs occurred in the primary dentition with the predominance of periodontal tissue injuries. When TDI was the presenting problem to hospital, accompanying systemic injury was rare. Treatment modalities were mostly limited to examination or extraction. The follow-up appointments were poorly attended.

Management of crown-related fractures in children: an update review.

Traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) are a serious public health problem. Epidemiology of dental trauma indicates that these injuries are more prevalent in child population of the world. Children are the sufferers in two-thirds of all TDIs observed. Although being a major fraction, crown-related fractures are a less severe form of TDIs with respect to their complications and sequelae. However, as with other types of traumatic injuries, the delay in seeking for immediate care following a traumatic injury and the lack of appropriate treatment may compromise long-term outcomes. This article reviews the occurrence, management, and prognosis of crown-related fractures in primary and permanent teeth in light of the recent literature.

Identifying Primary Proximal Caries Lesions in Pediatric Patients From Bitewing Radiographs Using Artificial Intelligence.

Purpose: To develop a no-code artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of identifying primary proximal surface caries using bitewings among pediatric patients. Methods: One hundred bitewing radiographs acquired at pediatric dental clinics were anonymized and reviewed. The inclusion criteria encompassed bitewing radiographs of adequate diagnostic quality of primary and mixed-dentition stages. The exclusion criteria included artifacts related to sensors' quality, positioning errors, and motion. Sixty-six bitewing radiographs were selected. Images were uploaded to LandingLens™, a no-code AI platform. A calibrated consensus panel determined the presence or absence of proximal caries lesions on all surfaces (using ground truth labeling). The radiographs were divided into training (70 percent), development (20 percent), and testing (10 percent) subsets. Data augmentation techniques were applied to artificially increase the sample size. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, precision, F1-score, and receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) were calculated. Results: Among the 755 proximal surfaces identified from 66 bitewings, 178 were annotated as caries lesions by experts. The model achieved the following metrics: 88.8 percent sensitivity, 98.8 percent specificity, 95.8 percent precision, 96.4 percent accuracy, and an F1-score of 92 percent by surface. The ROC-AUC was 0.965. Conclusions: The developed model demonstrated strong performance despite the limited dataset size. This may be attributed to the exclusion of unsuitable radiographs and the use of expert-labeled ground truth annotations. The utilization of no-code artificial intelligence may improve outcomes for computer vision tasks.

Ferric sulfate pulpotomy in primary teeth with different base materials: a 2-year randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of zinc oxide-eugenol, calcium hydroxide, and mineral trioxide aggregate as base materials on the clinical and radiographic success of ferric sulfate pulpotomies in primary molars. METHOD AND MATERIALS: Following hemostasis with 15.5% ferric sulfate, 105 teeth were randomly allocated to three groups: Group 1, zinc oxide-eugenol; Group 2, calcium hydroxide; and Group 3, mineral trioxide aggregate. All teeth were restored with stainless-steel crowns. Clinical and radiographic examinations were conducted at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. RESULTS: After 24 months, clinical success rates for Groups 1 to 3 were 97.1% (34/35 teeth), 94.2% (33/35 teeth), and 97.1% (34/35 teeth), respectively (P > .05). Radiographic success rates were 65.7% (23/35 teeth), 65.7% (23/35 teeth), and 77.1% (27/35 teeth), respectively (P > .05). Internal resorption was the most observed radiographic finding (15/105 teeth). CONCLUSIONS: The choice of zinc oxide-eugenol, calcium hydroxide, and mineral trioxide aggregate, as base materials, did not affect the clinical and radiographic success of ferric sulfate pulpotomies in primary teeth.

Eruption delay and sequelae in permanent incisors following intrusive luxation in primary dentition: a case report.

With respect to its consequences, intrusive luxation is one of the most severe form of dental traumatic injuries in primary dentition. This case report presents crown and root deformation of a permanent incisor together with its delayed eruption which have resulted from a traumatic injury to its predecessor.

Management of cervical root fracture injury in a patient with epilepsy: Case report with 5-year follow-up.

The difficulty in providing stability to the coronal segment makes cervical root fracture one of the most challenging dental traumatic injury. This type of injury is less frequent in children. However, due to their serious consequences and poor prognosis, tooth loss may occur. This report presents the management of a case of cervical root fracture in an 11-year-old patient with epilepsy. The stabilization of the root-fractured tooth with a splint failed due to the recurrent seizures the patient had. Coronal fragment was removed and vital root submergence was performed in order to support the alveolar growth. The natural tooth crown was incorporated into a modified Nance appliance to meet the esthetic and functional requirements of the patient. After 5-year follow-up, this treatment approach has seemed to offer a long-term provisional and satisfactory solution to the consequences of a cervical root fracture injury.

Hidden Behind Dental Trauma: Child Physical Abuse?

Child abuse, particularly physical abuse, is a massive and daily problem. The largest compiled data on violence against children, which was published by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), suggest that around 6 in 10 children between the ages of 2 and 14 worldwide (almost a billion) are subjected to physical punishment by their caregivers on a regular basis [1].