Variation in Craniodental Pathologies Among Cercopithecoid Primates.

Pathologies of the skull and teeth are well documented for many human populations, but there are fewer studies of other primates. We contrast lesion prevalence and patterning among cercopithecoid primates and map variation onto socioecological variables. We compare craniodental lesions in six species: Nasalis larvatus (n = 54), Colobus polykomos (n = 64), Cercopithecus mitis (n = 65), Macaca fascicularis (n = 109), Theropithecus gelada (n = 13), and Papio anubis (n = 76). One of us (C.A.K.) evaluated each adult skull for multiple lesion types using standard criteria. We also tested for a relationship between lesion prevalence and cranial suture fusion (age proxy). We used nonparametric tests for sex and species differences as well as pathology co-occurrence in SPSS. Socioecological data come from previous studies. Sex differences in lesion prevalence were only detected in P. anubis. Within taxa, some lesion types co-occurred. In Macaca, the presence of caries was associated with several other lesion types. Pulp cavity exposure co-occurred with TMJ osteoarthritis in multiple taxa. Among taxa, male P. anubis had higher lesion prevalences, particularly related to the anterior dentition and facial trauma. Because we did not detect a relationship between suture fusion and lesion prevalence, we propose that craniodental lesions may also be influenced by socioecological variables such as group composition and ratio of fruit to leaves in the diet. Our findings suggest that pain from pulp cavity exposure and related dental infections may alter chewing biomechanics and contribute to onset of TMJ osteoarthritis in nonhuman primates, as seen in humans. Further, we suggest that higher lesion prevalence in male baboons is likely related to male-male competition. Skeletal lesion analysis provides useful insight into primate socioecology, particularly for rare or difficult-to-observe phenomena, and provides additional biological context for our own species.

Medical Conditions, Oral Health Practices, and Barriers to Treatment among Patients Visiting a Teaching Dental Hospital in Eastern Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of medical conditions, oral hygiene practices, and dental visits among patients who attended a teaching dental hospital in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Materials & Methods. This retrospective cross-sectional study used patient records from 2009 to 2015 from the dental hospital of the College of Dentistry Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam. Patients' demographics, medical history, oral hygiene practices, reasons for attending the facility, attendance patterns, and smoking habits were studied. RESULTS: The study included 1502 records of patients with 65.1% of males and 34.9% of females. The prevalence of medical conditions was 25.7% in the study. The most common medical conditions included diabetes mellitus (7.2%), hypertension (6.5%), and anemia (4.7%). Only 21.8% reported visiting the dental hospital in the past one year. The prevalence of smoking was 16.7%, and this did not differ significantly between healthy and medically compromised patients (P=0.165). Fillings were the most common (21.6%) reason for visiting a dental hospital, followed by treatment for periodontal problems (12.9%) and oral lesions (12.6%), whereas treatment for braces (orthodontics) was the least common (5%) reason for visiting the hospital. The reasons for visiting the hospital did not differ significantly between healthy and medically compromised patients (P > 0.05). The three most common barriers to dental visits included long waiting time (18.1%), fear of dental treatment (14.4%), and difficulty in getting an appointment (11.3%). CONCLUSION: The study showed that dental patients had a high prevalence of medical conditions. Diabetes mellitus was the most prevalent problem. Most patients visited the dental hospital to receive restorative treatment, and a long waiting time was the most common barrier to dental visits. Public health measures should be taken to improve the general health and oral care of patients.

Factors influencing the perceived importance of oral health within a rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Indigenous Australians suffer from higher rates of oral disease and have more untreated dental problems and tooth extractions than the general population. Indigenous Australians also have lower rates of accessing oral health services and are more likely to visit for a problem rather than a check-up. Multiple issues effect health service and prevention programs including: characteristics of health services such as distances to health services; existence of social and cultural barriers; available wealth and social support; and, characteristics of the individual and community including the importance given to the disease. This paper seeks to explore the perceived importance of oral health within a rural Indigenous community in Australia and the factors influencing this perception. METHODS: The study used a phenomenology research design incorporating focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. It was undertaken in partnership with communities' Health Action Group who guided the focus, implementation and reporting of the research. A convenience sample was recruited from established community groups. Thematic analysis on the transcripts was completed. RESULTS: Twenty-seven community members participated in three focus groups and twelve in-depth interviews. The study found that the community gives high priority to oral health. Factors influencing the importance include: the perceived severity of symptoms of oral disease such as pain experienced due to tooth ache; lack of enabling resources such as access to finance and transport; the social impact of oral disease on individuals including impact on their personal appearance and self-esteem; and health beliefs including oral health awareness. Participants also noted that the importance given to oral health within the community competed with the occurrence of multiple health concerns and family responsibilities. CONCLUSION: This paper highlights the high importance this rural Indigenous community gives to oral health. Its findings suggest that under-utilisation of oral health services is influenced by both major barriers faced in accessing oral health services; and the number and severity of competing health and social concerns within the community. The study results confirm the importance of establishing affordable, culturally appropriate, community-based oral health care services to improve the oral health of rural Indigenous communities.

Assessing the effect of oral diseases on oral health related quality of life of institutionalized elderly using Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: India establishes a geriatric population of about 80 million which is 7.2% of the total population. The geriatric population is often faced by a negative impact on their quality of life due to poor oral health. OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of oral disease on daily activities and quality of life among the institutionalized elderly in Kanpur, India. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A total of fifty-six patients were purposively selected from two old age homes through convenience sampling technique. To assess the oral health status WHO basic oral health survey form (1997) was used. Short version of Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP - 14) questionnaire was used to assess the Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL). Independent t-test and ANOVA test was done to determine the relationship between the groups. RESULTS: Presence or absence of grossly decayed teeth, chronic periodontitis, based on edentulism and remaining sound teeth status produced no significant differences in any of the domains. In comparison with males, females experienced greater impact of oral diseases with respect to mean OHIP-14 score; however, it was non - significant (p=0.45). CONCLUSION: Oral health status of the institutionalized subjects in Kanpur city is poor, with edentulism and periodontitis. The effect of oral diseases on the lives of elderly is comparatively low and is non-significant.

Making sense of medieval mouths: Investigating sex differences of dental pathological lesions in a late medieval Italian community.

OBJECTIVES: Bioarchaeological investigations of sex-based differences in the prevalence of dental pathological lesions, particularly caries, have drawn considerable attention, and out of this work, two dominant models have emerged. Traditionally, the first model interprets sex-related patterns in caries as a product of gendered differences in diet. A more recent model interprets a generally higher propensity for caries prevalence in females in light of reproductive ecology. To test the hypothesis that females have higher risk of caries in accordance with reproductive ecology, we examined and analyzed caries prevalence and other potentially synergistic oral pathological lesions in a late medieval (A.D. 1300-1500) Italian archaeological sample. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined sex- and age-related prevalence in caries and other oral pathological lesions in a late medieval Italian skeletal assemblage excavated from Villamagna consisting of 38 females and 37 males (n = 1,534 teeth). We examined age- and sex-related patterns in six dental traits: antemortem tooth loss, caries, calculus, periapical inflammation, tooth wear, and periodontitis. RESULTS: Significant age-related increases in antemortem tooth loss, caries, calculus, and tooth wear were observed in both males and females. However, there was a lack of expected sex differences in oral pathological lesions, with instead older males exhibiting significantly more antemortem tooth loss and corrected caries than females. DISCUSSION: Results are discussed in relation to the ethnohistoric context of medieval rural dietary practices as well as biomedical salivary literature, which suggest that dietary changes throughout the life course may have facilitated trade-offs that buffered females from higher rates of dental pathological lesions.

Following in the footsteps of Hippocrates-interrelation between the incidence of odontogenic abscess and meteorological parameters.

OBJECTIVES: Although many physicians in daily practice assume a connection between odontogenic infections and meteorological parameters, this has not yet been scientifically proven. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the incidence of odontogenic abscess (OA) in relation to outdoor temperature and atmospheric pressure. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An analysis of patients with an odontogenic abscess who presented at the emergency department within a period of 24 months was performed. Only patients who had not received surgical or antibiotic treatment prior to presentation and who lived in Berlin/Brandenburg were included. The OA incidence was correlated with the mean/maximum outdoor temperature and atmospheric pressure starting from 14 days before presentation. The statistical analysis was carried out using Poisson regression models with OA incidence as dependent and meteorological parameters as independent variables. RESULTS: A total of 535 patients (mean age 39.4 years; range 1 to 95 years) with 538 cases were included. Of these, 227 were hospitalized. The most frequent diagnosis was a canine fossa abscess. A significant association between mean (p = 0.0153) and maximum temperature (p = 0.008) on the day of the presentation and abscess incidence was observed. Furthermore, a significant correlation between OA incidence and maximum temperature 2 days before presentation was found (p = 0.034). The deviation of the mean temperature on the day of the presentation from the monthly mean temperature had a significant influence (p = 0.021) on the incidence of OA. In contrast to temperature, atmospheric pressure had no significant influence on the incidence of OA. CONCLUSION: This study supports a relationship between the incidence of odontogenic abscess and outdoor temperature, but not atmospheric pressure. A significantly higher frequency of patients with an OA presented at our emergency department on days with (comparably) low and high outdoor temperatures. Furthermore, a significant correlation between incidence and maximum temperature 2 days before presentation was found. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The treatment of odontogenic infections has become a significant economic burden to public health care facilities. The results of this study may help to adapt the numbers of doctors/dentists on duty in relation to different weather conditions. In any case, it is an impetus to think outside the box.

Medical emergency department attendance of under 16-year-olds with dental problems.

BACKGROUND: Medical emergency departments (MED) are under increasing pressure in the UK with suggestions that unnecessary attendances to MED, which may include dental problems, are to blame. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the period prevalence of under 16-year-olds attendance to medical emergency departments (MED) with oral and dental problems over a 5-year period and investigate reason for attendance. This cross-sectional study was carried out as part of a service evaluation at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. METHODS: Retrospective data were collected between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2016 from the MED database using coding and a free text search of all paediatric attendances. The data were then analysed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Over the 5-year period, 135 760 under 16-year-olds attended the MED. Of these, 868 (0.6%) attended for dental problems. The most common dental reasons for attendance were as follows: Candida accounted for 22.6% of the 0- to 5-year-olds; dental trauma accounted for 29.5% of 6- to 11-year-olds; and mandibular fractures accounted for 18.9% of the 12- to 16-year-olds. Of those who attended the MED for dental problems, 28.5% resided in areas with an Index of Multiple Deprivation decile of 1, the areas of highest deprivation in the UK. CONCLUSION: Many of the diagnoses may have been appropriately managed elsewhere in the community, which may result in improved treatment provision and tailored care pathways, as well as reducing strain on the MED. Further research is needed to investigate why patients attend MED with dental problems.

Oral Health Status of Kuwaiti Children with a History of Chronic Liver Disease.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the oral health status and dental manifestations of children with a history of chronic liver disease (CLD) compared to healthy children. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty children (15 boys and 5 girls) with a history of CLD were compared to 20 healthy controls matched for age and gender. The clinical examination was carried out by the same dentist. Caries prevalence, using the decayed, missing, and filled primary and permanent teeth indices (dmft/DMFT), was recorded. Developmental enamel defects, plaque scores, and gingival overgrowth were also investigated. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found in mean dmft scores for children with a history of CLD (4.9 ± 5.4) and for healthy individuals (3.9 ± 4.5). However, the mean DMFT score was significantly higher (p =0.025) in children with CLD (4.2 ± 4.6) compared to controls (1.7 ± 1.6). The mean decayed teeth parameter (DT) was also significantly higher in children with CLD (p =0.004). All patients with CLD exhibited enamel defects compared to only 33% in the control group (p< 0.05). A higher mean plaque index was observed in children with a history of CLD (p< 0.001). Also, a positive correlation for gingival overgrowth was noted in patients with a history of CLD (p< 0.05). Green staining was evident only in the permanent dentition of 1 child with CLD. CONCLUSION: Children with a history of CLD exhibited a high caries prevalence, high plaque scores, and more enamel defects compared to healthy subjects. Gingival overgrowth is less prevalent among pediatric liver transplant patients on tacrolimus therapy.

Hunter-gatherer dental pathology: Do historic accounts of Aboriginal Australians correspond to the archeological record of dental disease?

OBJECTIVES: Studies of hunter-gatherer oral pathology, particularly in Australia, often focus upon dental wear and caries or assume that historic studies of Aboriginal people reflect the precontact past. Consequently the range of population variation has been underestimated. In this paper dental pathology from human remains from Roonka are compared with a model of dental pathology derived from historic studies. The aim is to identify aspects of dental pathology indicative of regional or intra-population diversity. METHODS: Adult dentitions (n = 115) dating from the mid to late Holocene were recorded for the following conditions: dental wear, caries, periapical voids, calculus, periodontal disease and antemortem tooth loss. Statistical analysis was used to identify patterns of dental pathology and to identify causal relationships between conditions. RESULTS: Dental wear is marked while dental caries rates are extremely low. Other indications of dental pathology are uncommon (<7% of teeth affected). Temporal heterogeneity is apparent: there are 3 young adults with caries who died in the postcontact period. There is also a small group of middle age to old adults with disproportionate abscessing and pulp exposure who may represent temporal variation or heterogeneity in individual frailty. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm dental wear as the major cause of dental pathology in this group and that, at a general level, historic accounts do correspond with this archeological sample. However, intra-sample heterogeneity is apparent while 2 dental conditions, calculus and periodontal disease, along with the pattern of sex differences deviate from expectation, demonstrating that to identify regional variation attention needs to be paid to the dentoalveolar complex as a whole.

Children in out-of-home care are at high risk of somatic, dental and mental ill health.

AIM: The Swedish Social Board has implemented a support strategy to guide out-of-home care for children, which translates as children's needs in focus (CNIF) and includes a systematic health assessment. It was fully introduced into the Skåne province in 2012 and our study covered the first four years of the CNIF health assessments, from 2012 to 2015. METHODS: We studied children aged 0-17 years in out-of-home care who had been referred by social workers for a CNIF health assessment, using their medical records to investigate both their health and the value of the health assessments. RESULT: From 2012 to 2015, only 409 (6%) of the 11 413 children in out-of-home care were referred for health assessments. Their health issues included depression and anxiety (29%), poor dental health (30%), seeking medical care for traumatic injuries (36%), previous contact with child psychiatry services (38%) and missed medical appointments (36%), dental appointments (36%) and child health programme appointments (39%). In addition, 10% of the girls and 9% of the boys were obese. CONCLUSION: This study found high levels of wide-ranging health issues. Despite national Swedish guidelines and policies, only 6% of the children in out-of-home care were referred by social workers for a CNIF health assessment.

Occurrence of oral health problems and planned measures in dependent older people in nursing care.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To describe oral health problems and planned measures in older people receiving nursing care. BACKGROUND: Poor oral health conditions have a negative impact on the quality of life of older people. Therefore, oral care is an important task in daily nursing activities. METHODS: Data were obtained from the web-based Swedish national quality register Senior Alert. Data regarding oral health status and planned measures in individuals ≥65 years from one county in Sweden between July 2014-June 2015 were included. The Revised Oral Assessment Guide-the Jönköping (ROAG-J) was used routinely by nursing staff in nursing care facilities to measure oral health status. RESULTS: Oral assessments were made on 2,567 individuals (65.7% women). The most common oral health problem was related to "Teeth" (43.0%), which indicates deficient oral hygiene and/or broken teeth. At least one measure was planned in all the participants. The most common planned measures were "Moistening of the mouth" (16.6%), followed by "Brushing - assistance or complete help" (13.5%). CONCLUSION: Oral health problems were common, and planned measures did not seem to be sufficient to address the identified problems. The results indicate that greater priority should be given to the oral health care of older people in nursing care. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The study highlights the importance of not only identifying oral health problems but also having knowledge and strategies for oral health care. Collaboration is needed to support nurses in caring for the oral health care of older people in nursing homes.

Oral health status of long-term care residents in Canada: Results of a national cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the oral health and oral prosthetic status of long-term care residents in four Canadian provinces. BACKGROUND: Oral health can have significant impact on the health and quality of life of older adults. Seniors in long-term care are highly dependent on care staff for basic activities of daily living and are at risk for poor oral health. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five hundred and fifty-nine randomly selected residents were examined from thirty-two long-term care homes in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, Canada. Four experienced registered dental hygienists, one in each province, completed a standardised oral health examination with each participant, examining lip health, breath odour, saliva appearance, natural teeth count, gingival inflammation, tooth and jaw pain, denture status, mucosal status and oral health abnormalities. RESULTS: Of the examined residents, 57.6% were dentate, with an average of 16.4 (SD = 8.0) teeth. Most dentate residents had moderate or severe inflammation on at least one tooth (79.6%). Sixty per cent of residents wore dentures, and 43.2% of edentulous residents had poor hygiene of their dentures. Nine per cent of residents required urgent dental treatment for oral health problems such as broken teeth, infection, severe decay and ulcers. CONCLUSION: This study provides an estimate of the prevalence of oral health problems in residents living in long-term care homes across Canada and indicates that improvement in oral health care is needed. Future work on development strategies aimed at optimising oral health for long-term care residents is required.

Socioeconomic status, oral health and dental disease in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic inequalities are associated with oral health status, either subjectively (self-rated oral health) or objectively (clinically-diagnosed dental diseases). The aim of this study is to compare the magnitude of socioeconomic inequality in oral health and dental disease among adults in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States (US). METHODS: Nationally-representative survey examination data were used to calculate adjusted absolute differences (AD) in prevalence of untreated decay and fair/poor self-rated oral health (SROH) in income and education. We pooled age- and gender-adjusted inequality estimates using random effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: New Zealand demonstrated the highest adjusted estimate for untreated decay; the US showed the highest adjusted prevalence of fair/poor SROH. The meta-analysis showed little heterogeneity across countries for the prevalence of decayed teeth; the pooled ADs were 19.7 (95% CI = 16.7-22.7) and 12.0 (95% CI = 8.4-15.7) between highest and lowest education and income groups, respectively. There was heterogeneity in the mean number of decayed teeth and in fair/poor SROH. New Zealand had the widest inequality in decay (education AD = 0.8; 95% CI = 0.4-1.2; income AD = 1.0; 95% CI = 0.5-1.5) and the US the widest inequality in fair/poor SROH (education AD = 40.4; 95% CI = 35.2-45.5; income AD = 20.5; 95% CI = 13.0-27.9). CONCLUSIONS: The differences in estimates, and variation in the magnitude of inequality, suggest the need for further examining socio-cultural and contextual determinants of oral health and dental disease in both the included and other countries.

Dental and oral manifestations of celiac disease.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to evaluate the dental and oral manifestations in patients with celiac disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The sample consisted of 40 patients with the disease and 40 without the disease matched by age in southern Brazil. The CD group included patients previously diagnosed by positive anti-endomysial (IgA) examination and confirmed by small intestine biopsy. The presence of dental enamel defects and dental caries was evaluated by a calibrated researcher according to AINE's and WHO's criteria, respectively. The history of recurrent aphthous ulcers and dry mouth was obtained through reporting. For the evaluation of the salivary flow, the saliva samples were obtained through the non-stimulated and stimulated saliva collection method. RESULTS: There was a significant association between CD and dental enamel defects (OR=2.38, P=0.045) and dry mouth (OR=9.15, P=0.002). No difference was found for the report of recurrent aphthous ulcers and caries experience between the two groups. Patients with CD had normal pattern of unstimulated and stimulated saliva flow rates (0.67 ± 0.38 ml / min and 1.14 ± 0.47 ml / min, respectively). A higher occurrence of dental enamel defects was observed in patients with classic CD (P=0.054). Of the 1,962 permanent teeth, 59 presented dental enamel defects, 71.8% of which were in patients with CD (P=0.001), predominantly in molars (P=0.009). CONCLUSIONS: CD increased the likelihood of dental enamel defects and dry mouth sensation. The oral examination can be an important auxiliary tool for the identification of cases of the disease.

Analysis of risk factors of orthodontic pathology: literature review.

OBJECTIVE: Introduction: The high dental morbidity of children's population of Ukraine remains one of the topical medical problems of nowadays: in different age groups the frequency of cases of caries, periodontal diseases, developmental disorders and teeth formation is steadily increasing. In recent years, due to the effect of a large number of various etiological factors the frequency of tooth-jaw abnormalities in children has increased significantly. The aim: The main issue of the study was a comprehensive analysis of literary sources on the risk factors for orthodontic pathology in children. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: Analytical, bibliosemantic, systematic approach. RESULTS: Review and conclusions: The main cause of an increasing of the prevalence of orthodontic pathology in children is the existence of persistent factors contributing to the formation of this pathology and maintains its stable high level among the population. Only eliminating or reducing the negative impacts of the most significant risk factors that affect the onset of orthodontic pathology, can reduce their prevalence.

[Analysis of the prevalence of dental diseases requiring prosthodontic treatment among the rural population of the Omsk region]. / Analiz rasprostranennosti stomatologicheskikh zabolevanii, trebuiushchikh ortopedicheskogo lecheniia, sredi sel'skogo naseleniia Omskoi oblasti.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of dental diseases requiring prosthetic treatment among rural population of Omsk region. The study involved 1247 residents from 12 rural areas of the Omsk region at the age of 18 to 87 years. Partial absence of teeth was found in 69.4±1.30%, 7.5±0.75% had a complete absence of teeth on one jaw and 3.8±0.54% on both jaws. Malocclusion is present in 29.5±1.29% of rural residents, the pathology of dental hard tissues, clinical symptoms of TMJ dysfunction, increased dental abrasion were revealed in 63.8±1.36%, 12.0±0.92% and 8.7±0.80%, respectively. Thus the study showed high prevalence of dental pathology that require prosthetic dental rehabilitation in rural areas of the Omsk region.

Oral health literacy and oral health outcomes in an adult population in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the association between critical and communicative oral health literacy (OHL) and oral health outcomes (status, oral health-related quality of life and practices) in adults. METHODS: This cross-sectional study examined a household probability sample of 248 adults, representing 149,635 residents (20-64 years old) in Piracicaba-SP, Brazil. Clinical oral health and socioeconomic and demographic data, as well as data on oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) and health practices were collected. The oral examinations were carried out in the participants' homes, using the World Health Organization criteria for oral diseases. The critical and communicative OHL instrument was the primary independent variable, and it was measured using five Likert items that were dichotomized as 'high' ('agree' and 'strongly agree' responses for the 5 items) and 'low' OHL. Binary and multinomial logistic regressions were performed on each outcome (oral health status and practices), controlling for age, sex and socioeconomic status (SES). RESULTS: Approximately 71.5% presented low OHL. When adjusted for age and sex (first model) low OHL was associated with untreated caries (Odds Ratio = 1.92, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.07-3.45), tooth brushing <3 times a day (OR = 2.00, 1.11-3.62) and irregular tooth flossing (OR = 2.17, 1.24-3.80). After SES inclusion in the first model, significant associations were found for low OHL when the outcomes were: presence of biofilm (OR = 1.83, 1.08-3.33), dental care for emergency only (OR = 2.24, 1.24-4.04) and prevalence of oral health impact on quality of life (OR = 2.06, 1.15-3.69). CONCLUSION: Adjusting for age, sex and SES, OHL is related to a risk factor (biofilm) and a consequence of poor oral health (emergency dental visits) and can interfere with the impact of oral diseases on quality of life. As low OHL can be modified, the results support oral health promotion strategies directed at improving critical and communicative oral health literacy in adult populations.

Oral health and orofacial pain in older people with dementia: a systematic review with focus on dental hard tissues.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to provide a systematic overview including a quality assessment of studies about oral health and orofacial pain in older people with dementia, compared to older people without dementia. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library. The following search terms were used: dementia and oral health or stomatognathic disease. The quality assessment of the included articles was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). RESULTS: The search yielded 527 articles, of which 37 were included for the quality assessment and quantitative overview. The median NOS score of the included studies was 5, and the mean was 4.9 (SD 2.2). The heterogeneity between the studies was considered too large to perform a meta-analysis. An equivalent prevalence of orofacial pain, number of teeth present, decayed missing filled teeth index, edentulousness percentage, and denture use was found for both groups. However, the presence of caries and retained roots was higher in older people with dementia than in those without. CONCLUSIONS: Older people with dementia have worse oral health, with more retained roots and coronal and root caries, when compared to older people without dementia. Little research focused on orofacial pain in older people with dementia. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The current state of oral health in older people with dementia could be improved with oral care education of caretakers and regular professional dental care.

Sense of coherence and oral health in older adults in Southern Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between sense of coherence and oral health among older adults treated at family health units in southern Brazil. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The sample was composed of 164 individuals aged 60 years old or older. Socio-demographic and oral health variables were collected using a standardised questionnaire. Sense of coherence (SOC) was measured with the questionnaire proposed by Antonovsky containing 29 closed-ended questions. Poisson regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with SOC. RESULTS: Among the 164 older adults, 53.9% were edentate, 54.5% did not need any type of dental prosthesis, and 82.1% had good/adequate self-assessed oral health. The multivariate analysis revealed lower SOC scores among non-white individuals [Mean Ratio (MR)=0.94; 95% CI: 0.91-0.97; P<.001], with poor/very poor self-assessed oral health (MR=0.85; 95% CI: 0.78-0.91; P<.001) and with one or more teeth present in the oral cavity (MR=0.94; 95% CI: 0.91-0.97; P<.001). CONCLUSION: The present results show that older adults who are self-reported as non-white, with one or more teeth in the oral cavity and with poor/very poor self-assessed oral health have lower SOC scores.

Diagnoses and Treatment of Dental Disorders in a Research Colony of Macaca fascicularis: A Case Series.

During daily routine oral examinations in a research colony of nonhuman primates (NHPs, Macaca fascicularis), a variety of oral-dental lesions were identified. A dental care program was established based on these findings. Based on the presence of dental clinical signs and their severity, 31 animals were triaged to be examined and treated by a veterinarian. Clinical examination consisted of visual inspection using a periodontal probe/explorer and full or partial mouth dental radiographs. Treatment was performed during the same procedure. Some animals had a follow-up examination including radiographs months later. Four common dental diseases were diagnosed: periodontal disease, caries, tooth fracture, and tooth attrition. Less frequent were dental abscess, enamel hypomineralization, gingival hyperplasia, hypercementosis, tooth luxation, tooth dysplasia, root resorption, abrasion. Less severe periodontal disease was treated conservatively. If severely affected, teeth were extracted. Well-circumscribed caries without endodontic involvement were treated by composite restoration. Teeth with extensive caries and pulp involvement were extracted. Teeth with exposed pulp were treated via extraction or orthograde root canal treatment. In this case series, 27 (87%) of 31 NHPs exhibited at least 1 moderate to severe dental lesion that required treatment. The presumable improvement in welfare and weight of oral/dental lesions for the overall health status in research NHPs encourages us to continue this program prospectively.