A suggested universal protocol for dental examination in sports.

The athletes of any sport and level submit their bodies to constant exercise. Any given pathology can increase the risk of injury, illness, or even reduced performance. The medical examination is valuable in diagnosing existing health problems and preventing medical issues that might compromise the athlete's overall health when exercising. The stomatognathic system is not an exemption, as oral pathologies, including dental caries and periodontal diseases, are found in high incidence in sports. The need for accurate and detailed dental examination in sports leaded dentists from the European Association for Sports Dentistry and the Academy for Sports Dentistry to elaborate a universal dental examination in sports protocol that can record the overall oral health of the athlete, including the teeth, periodontium, and musculoskeletal screening, for all athletes. The outcome of this stomatognathic examination allows sports physicians and professionals other than dentists to have a complete image of the individual oral health condition of any given athlete, and it allows the dentists to efficiently screen and prevent pathologies, as well as to advise on the eligibility to practice sports from the oral health perspective.

Surgical Treatment of Voluminous Jaw Cysts with a Buccal Plate: A Study of 20 Clinical Cases.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to present, with a series of clinical cases, some advantages of a modified surgical technique using fixed bone flaps in an approach to voluminous maxillary or mandibular odontogenic cysts (excluding keratocysts) and highlight the positive impact on the healing of mucus and bone tissues. BACKGROUND: The surgical approach of the enucleation of voluminous maxillary cysts is generally realized with a subtractive osteoplasty. The major problem with this kind of procedure is frequent fibrous healing (or scar formation) of the cavity due to mucosal invagination, especially for large lesions more than 2 cm in diameter. Several techniques have been proposed to limit these side effects. Very contrasting results have been observed in the techniques with graft or exogenous materials, and the scarring effects on mucus and bone tissues are poorly described. In situations where a vestibular cortical bone remains, our modification of the former technique is the use of this bone like a repositioned flap. TECHNIQUE: The present study is a cases series and was carried out on 20 adult patients with maxillary or mandibular cystic lesions larger than 25 mm. For all the patients, our modified technique consisted of using a bone flap to expose more widely the site and to carry out the enucleation of the cyst. Repositioning the flap in the final stage of the operation with osteosynthesis material allowed controlled mucosal and bone healing confirmed by clinical and radiographic follow-up. CONCLUSION: In all cases of our study, no invagination of the soft tissues in the cystic cavity was observed and postoperative bone volumes were identical to the initial state. Only minor postoperative complications were observed in three cases. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: A bone flap approach seems to allow a tissue interception, thus better control of mucosal and bone healing, which is borne out by the clinical and radiographic controls 24 months after surgery.

The European Association for Sports Dentistry, Academy for Sports Dentistry, European College of Sports and Exercise Physicians consensus statement on sports dentistry integration in sports medicine.

Sports medicine has a multidisciplinary character which allows different medical specialties to investigate the prevention, etiology, and treatment of athletes' diseases. This leads to a decreased risk of injury and a faster return to play as well as an improvement in the overall health and well-being of athletes of any level and in all sports around the world. The oral health of athletes is now the subject of great attention internationally because of the increased prevalence and incidence of health issues such as dental caries and erosion, periodontal disease, defective occlusion, temporomandibular joint disorders, and orofacial injuries. Scientific evidence and research on these issues have also intensified over recent years. The best way to maintain player's health and performance is to include oral health in sports medicine with physicians and dentists working closely together at the individual level as well as with the cooperation between local and international sports medicine and dentistry associations. The European Association for Sports Dentistry, the Academy for Sports Dentistry, and the European College of Sports and Exercise Physicians are leading the way and have worked together to develop a consensus statement describing the main pillars of oral health integration into sports medicine based on the most common oral diseases found in athletes and linked to exercise, sports, and performance.

Experimental Analysis of the Influence of Heat Treatments on the Flexibility of NiTi Alloy for Endodontic Instruments Manufacturing.

The flexibility of NiTi based endodontic files is improved by heat treatment, leading to lower risk of failure, ledges, and canal transportation during the preparation of curved root canals. The aim of this study is to investigate and clearly highlight the influence of every parameter of heat treatment on the flexibility of NiTi wires and thus of endodontic instruments. A full factorial Design of Experiment (DoE) and a designed bending-torsion bench following the ISO 3630-1 standard were used for this investigation. Temperature, holding time, and cooling method were selected as contributing factors, while maximum bending moment, hysteresis size, and stiffness during martensitic transformation were selected as outputs. Regression analysis was performed to estimate the relationship between contributing and output variables to assess how the experimentation fits with the model. The experimental results showed that wires heated at 425 °C for 30 min are more flexible. Moreover, heat treatment temperature is the most critical factor influencing the flexibility and hysteresis size of the NiTi wire followed by the holding time, while the cooling method has a negligible effect. The regression analysis showed that the model is effective at predicting the relationship between contributing factors, bending moment response, and hysteresis size.

Mandibular osteonecrosis following herpes zoster infection: Report of a rare case with a literature review.

Any patient with a herpes zoster infection of the mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve should benefit from early oral monitoring, especially in elderly population where traumatic dental prostheses are common, because osteonecrosis can occur.

Antimicrobial applications of copper.

Copper has long been known to have antimicrobial activity and is used in drinking water treatment and transportation. It has been recognized by the American Environmental Protection Agency as the first metallic antimicrobial agent in 2008. With ongoing waterborne hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance, research on copper as an antimicrobial agent is again very attractive. Many studies have shown that the use of copper surface and copper particles could significantly reduce the environmental bioburden. This review highlights in its first part all the conditions described in the literature to enhance copper antimicrobial activity. Secondly, the different antimicrobial applications of copper in water treatment, hospital care units and public applications are presented. Finally, the future research needs on copper as an antimicrobial agent are discussed.

Streptococcus mutans antigen I/II binds to α5ß1 integrins via its A-domain and increases ß1 integrins expression on periodontal ligament fibroblast cells.

The cell wall anchored protein I/II of Streptococcus mutans plays a significant role in colonizing the dental structures and induces the synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines after binding to α5ß1 integrins of host cells. Whilst the signalling pathways triggered by bound protein I/II and leading to the release of proinflammatory cytokines has been extensively studied, the molecular mechanisms of binding of protein I/II to this host cell factor remain more elusive. Using a panel of purified recombinant polypeptides corresponding to defined domains of the streptococcal protein I/II, we aimed to better characterize protein I/II-α5ß1 integrins interaction. Our results show that the A region plays a major role in binding of protein I/II to α5ß1 integrin. Using specific inhibitors, we demonstrated that this interaction requires ß subunits of the integrin and that the glycosylated residues of the integrin interact with the V-region of the protein I/IIf. Periodontal fibroblasts (PDL-Fb) express ß1-integrins on their cell membrane. Stimulation with protein I/II increases the expression of ß1-integrins. These data suggest a modulatory effect of the streptococcal protein I/II on expression of integrins by PDL-Fb. This might have important implication for understanding the role of PDL-Fb cells in periradicular inflammation.

Insertional inactivation of pac and rmlB genes reduces the release of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8 induced by Streptococcus mutans in monocytic, dental pulp, and periodontal ligament cells.

Streptococcus mutans possesses different cell wall molecules, such as protein of the I/II family, the serotype f polysaccharide rhamnose glucose polymer (RGP), and lipoteichoic acid (LTA), which act as adhesins and modulins, allowing S. mutans to colonize teeth and cause dental caries and pulpitis. We tested several isogenic mutants of S. mutans defective in protein I/II and/or RGP, as well as purified modulins such as protein I/II, RGP, and LTA, for their binding and activation abilities on monocytic, dental pulp (DP), and periodontal ligament (PDL) cells. Our results demonstrate that both protein I/II and RGP play important roles in streptococcal adherence to human monocytic and fibroblastic cells, whereas LTA is only a minor adhesin. In the activation process, the cytokine response elicited is polarized toward a Th1 response which seems principally due to protein I/II and RGP. Even if protein I/II seems to be more efficient in its purified form in triggering cells to release interleukin-8 (IL-8), RGP is the most efficient cytokine-stimulating component in intact bacteria, while LTA plays only a minor role. In cell activation, we showed, by using either cytochalasin D or coated ligands, that internalization of either S. mutans, S. mutans isogenic mutants, or purified ligands is not necessary to trigger cells to release IL-8. We also showed that, besides the implication of monocytes in pulpal inflammation, fibroblast-like cells such as DP and PDL cells are also actively implicated in local inflammation and in the generation of a Th1 response after stimulation with S. mutans cells or antigens.