Representation of dental care and oral health in children's drawings.

BACKGROUND: Paediatric dentistry requires knowledge of preventive measures, restorative skills and an understanding of child development. AIM: This exploratory, descriptive and qualitative study has analysed children's drawings regarding their perception of dental treatment and oral health. METHOD: Children aged from six to ten years attending a dental school for treatment were randomly invited to create a drawing about 'dental treatment' and 'oral health'. Verbal expressions made by the children whilst drawing were also recorded and attached to the drawings. These representations were analysed and categorised using Vygotsky postulations for context reading. DISCUSSION: During the drawing analysis different themes emerged. Five categories regarding perceptions of dental treatment were identified: personal relationship; power relation; trauma; childhood resistance; and contextualisation of dental care in the child's life. Three categories relating to oral health were determined: dichotomy of health/sickness; ludic representation of health; and sickness seen as a process. CONCLUSION: Drawing can be used to understand children's emotions and expectations about dental treatment. Besides possessing technical skills and scientific knowledge, dentists have an obligation to pay attention to children's feelings.

Dental caries is associated with dental fear in childhood: findings from a birth cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of dental fear in preschool children and to estimate its association with maternal and children characteristics. METHODS: The study was nested in a population-based birth cohort from Pelotas, Brazil, started in 2004. A sample of 1,129 children aged 5 years was dentally examined, and their mothers were interviewed. Dental fear was investigated using a validated instrument through the question 'Do you think that your child is afraid of going to the dentist?'. The possible answers were (1) 'no', (2) 'yes, a little', (3) 'yes' and (4) 'yes, a lot'. The outcome was dichotomized as 'children without dental fear' (answers 1 and 2) and 'children with dental fear' (answers 3 and 4). Exploratory variables included demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, maternal oral health status and maternal behaviors. The main explanatory variables were caries and dental pain. Data were analyzed using multivariable Poisson regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of dental fear was 16.8% (95% confidence interval 14.6-19.0). Multivariate analysis showed that the lower the family income at birth and the higher the severity of dental caries, the higher the prevalence of dental fear. Children who never visited the dentist and those who frequently experienced dental pain were positively associated with higher dental fear prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: Presence of dental caries and dental pain were associated with dental fear regardless of socioeconomic origin and lack of dental service use in childhood.

Traumatic dental injuries in primary teeth: severity and related factors observed at a specialist treatment centre in Brazil.

AIM: This retrospective study aimed to analyse demographic data and the severity of traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) to the primary dentition based on children's dental records at a university clinic. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional retrospective study. METHODS: The records of all patients were analysed according to gender, age, aetiology, teeth involved, number of affected teeth, place of occurrence, witness to the trauma, time elapsed between trauma occurrence and care-seeking, type of trauma and severity of injury. RESULTS: A total of 576 children aged 8-89 months suffered injuries to 1,043 teeth. Severe injuries were the most prevalent (45.5%). These occurred at all ages, but their frequency was higher in children aged between 13 and 24 months. The prevalence of mild injury was higher when the cause was a fall from one's own height. No differences were detected in severity according to the place of occurrence and witnesses of the accident. The prevalence of severe injury was higher in cases where three or more teeth were involved. CONCLUSIONS: In this specialist treatment centre, severe injuries were the most common TDIs, which occurred in children aged 13-24 months, mainly due to falls and most occurred at home. Professionals must be prepared to deliver the best and most efficient care to this population.

Influence of maternal dental anxiety on the child's dental caries experience.

This study assessed the influence of maternal dental anxiety-related behavior on the child's caries experience. A cross-sectional study with 608 mother-child dyads during the Children's National Immunization Campaign in Pelotas, Brazil was performed. Mothers were asked to answer a questionnaire and dental examination of the children was performed (dmft). The association assessment used Poisson regression. Children from anxious mothers were more likely to present untreated caries even after covariate adjustment. Boys, older children and low-income family children presented a higher dmft mean. Preventive strategies should focus not only on child and family characteristics, but also on maternal dental anxiety-related behaviors.

A novel 9-aza-anthrapyrazole effective against human prostatic carcinoma xenografts.

OBJECTIVES: Systematic investigation of a novel series of intercalating agents, 9-aza-anthrapyrazoles, has led to the identification of a promising analogue, BBR 3438. This study describes the antitumour efficacy of the novel compound in human prostate carcinoma models and the molecular/cellular basis of its activity. METHODS AND RESULTS: The novel 9-aza-anthrapyrazole BBR 3438 was significantly more effective than doxorubicin and losoxantrone (DuP-941) in two of the three tested prostate carcinoma models. The superior activity was more evident in PC3 tumour, since BBR 3438 produced an appreciable rate of complete tumour regressions. Under these conditions, the drug-induced antiproliferative activity paralleled delayed apoptosis. Tumour response to in vivo drug treatment was associated with an early down-regulation of Bcl-2, which was somewhat more marked for the aza compound. In fact, the 9-aza-anthrapyrazole induced DNA cleavage in vitro with isolated DNA topoisomerase II (isoform alpha) and DNA strand breaks in prostatic carcinoma cells. Although the molecular effects of losoxantrone and the 9-aza analogue on the enzyme target were comparable, the cytotoxic effects of BBR 3438 could be enhanced by long-term exposure as a consequence of favourable cellular accumulation and prominent DNA-binding affinity. In addition, a lower reduction potential of the 9-aza-anthrapyrazole in comparison with classical anthrapyrazoles suggests an increased ability of the drug to induce oxidative stress following free radical production, which may be a contributing factor in determining the long-term response (i.e. delayed cell death) to genotoxic damage. CONCLUSIONS: BBR 3438 exhibited a unique profile of preclinical activity with a superior efficacy against prostatic carcinoma models compared to reference compounds (doxorubicin and losoxantrone). The antitumour efficacy of BBR 3438 against prostatic carcinoma could be the result of a combination of favourable events, including enhanced intracellular accumulation and an increased DNA-binding affinity favouring the accumulation of multiple sublethal or lethal damage. In spite of its enhanced cytotoxic potency, the 9-aza compound was better tolerated in vivo than losoxantrone, thus improving the therapeutic index. The preclinical profile of efficacy against prostatic carcinoma, a tumour resistant to conventional antitumour drugs, makes the novel 9-aza-anthrapyrazole BBR 3438 a promising candidate for clinical evaluation.

Natal and neonatal teeth: review of the literature.

Child development from conception through the first years of life is marked by many changes. Tooth eruption follows a chronology corresponding to the date when the tooth erupts into the oral cavity. These dates have been established in the literature and are subjected to small variations depending on hereditary, endocrine and environmental features. At times, however, the chronology of tooth eruption suffers a more significant alteration in terms of onset, and the first teeth may be present at birth or arise during the first month of life. The expectations about the eruption of the first teeth are great and even greater when the teeth appear early in the oral cavity. The objective of the present study was to present a review of the literature with important aspects about natal and neonatal teeth.

Bbr 2778, an aza-anthracenedione endowed with preclinical anticancer activity and lack of delayed cardiotoxicity.

With the aim to provide second-generation anthracenedione analogues endowed with reduced side effects and a wider spectrum of action than mitoxantrone and doxorubicin, a large number of new molecules bearing nitrogen atoms in the chromophore was synthesized and screened in vitro and in vivo. From this screening, BBR 2778 (6,9-bis[(2-aminoethyl)amino] benzo[g]isoquinoline-5,10-dione dimaleate) emerged as the most interesting compound. BBR 2778 was tested in vitro on several murine and human tumor cell lines and showed cytotoxic potency lower than that of mitoxantrone and doxorubicin. BBR 2778 was more cytotoxic in leukemia and lymphoma cell lines than in solid tumor cell lines. Although against in vivo models BBR 2778 was less potent than mitoxantrone and doxorubicin, its antitumor activity was equal or superior (in certain tumor models) to that of the above standard compounds. In particular, BBR 2778 was curative against L1210 murine leukemia and YC-8 murine lymphoma. Moreover, it showed an antitumor activity comparable to that of mitoxantrone and doxorubicin on solid tumors. No cardiotoxic effect of BBR 2778 in animals not pretreated with anthracyclines was observed compared to standards. In light of its spectrum of activity and marked efficacy against lymphomas and leukemias over a wide dose range, together with its lack of delayed cardiotoxicity, BBR 2778 has been entered in clinical studies.